Vietnam is Complicated
by Atlas Arrow
Summary: Due to a miscalculation three members of the Umbrella Academy wound up in Vietnam. One hid in the jungle. One joined the Army. One struggled from withdrawal, built a televator, crashed a wedding, and made enemies of smugglers. This is his story. Séance/OC
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: **__This story's sort of my explanation for the kid at the end of Dallas Issue five. The updates are going to be kind of infrequent; I've lost just about all forms of internet access soon. Sorry 'bout that._

July 18, 1961

Xuan ran her pen over the account books one more time, checking to make sure that there were no mistakes. She paused slightly and took a deep drag from her cigarette. She let the ashes fall into a conveniently located plate before continuing. Her grandmother saw her doing this and shook her head.

"You shouldn't be doing those," she said, "It's too early in the morning. You should've been in bed hours ago."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"Seung said told me to have these finished by eight," she replied, "I'll be done soon. You can go back to bed."

Her grandmother sat down next to her.

"You shouldn't have to do everything he tells you to," she said.

Putting her pen down she looked her grandmother in the eyes.

"Hoa," Xuan said tiredly as she took inhaled her cigarette, "You know we do."

"Xuan," Hoa replied softly.

"We both know there's nowhere else to go," Xuan sighed, "And knowing Seung he'll throw us out of here if we don't do what he wants. Right now, as odd as it may seem, I'd rather be here then out there."

Reluctantly Hoa nodded. Over the past few months their lives had gone through upheaval after upheaval. First Xuan's father had died. Soon afterwards they had lost their home in the country and what little they had there. So they'd had to go live with relatives. The closest one was Seung, Xuan's older cousin who lived in Saigon. Things had only gotten worse once they'd arrived.

The change was dramatic. Not only were they in the city instead of the country, but Seung was used to a very different order then they were. She had grown up in a non-traditional household. Her father had been American, though you wouldn't know by looking at Xuan. The whole place had had a very informal atmosphere. She'd been allowed to call her grandmother by her first name for example.

Seung had obviously grown up differently and disliked it when she addressed **him** by his first name. Truth told he disliked just about everything she did. This had led to her being hit for the first time in her life. Bile rose in her throat when she thought about it. She still had a few of the bruises under her sleeves. Luckily Hoa's were healing.

Sometimes she wished that he could just give them money and tell them to go away. That would've been fine for her. However, it appeared that he enjoyed having two slaves around.

"We do need to get out of here soon," Hoa sighed, "You deserve better. I only wish that I had the money…"

A low chuckle started in Xuan's throat. Hoa stared at her.

"Why do you think I'm okay with doing the account books?" Xuan smiled.

Frowning Hoa looked over Xuan's shoulder. Her lips moved slightly as she read the figures. Pulling back she smiled.

"You have to be quite good with numbers to get it this bad," she said, "But I never thought that you would resort to crime."

"Scamming money off of Seung isn't a crime," Xuan said as she got up to stretch, "His stock isn't exactly what we'd call legit, now is it?"

Hoa looked at her sharply before jerking her head in the direction of the door.

"Let the bastard hear if he wants," she said vaguely, "He's a damned smuggler, him and his brother. If he won't give us the money to help us get out of here then I'll get it myself."

Looking intently at the accounting books Hoa asked;

"How long have you been doing this?"

"A couple of weeks," sighed Xuan as she took another drag, "We won't be able to get away with doing this all the time though, and not with large amounts. If only Seung's business was doing a bit better…."

"We can wait," Hoa said, "He may own several junkyards but that's all they're full of. Junk. Now if he would-"

Whatever Hoa was going to say was cut off by a loud racket outside the building. Xuan looked at Hoa questioningly. All Hoa could do was shrug. The noise increased and Xuan put out her cigarette before moving curiously towards the door.

"You shouldn't do that," cautioned Hoa.

"I just want to look," she said as she opened it.

Sighing in frustration Hoa walk up behind her granddaughter. The two of them peered down the landing to see Seung arguing with an obviously American customer. Cautiously she leaned over the rail further to try to catch more of the conversation.

"-only said I wanted four sheets," the man said irritably, "I didn't say I wanted the world or anything."

"Well you no can have it!" Seung insisted in broken English.

Seung had never even **tried **to learn the language, or make use of anyone who could. This frustrated her, seeing as how it was the only foreign language she could actually speak. She did do it pretty well too if she did say so herself.

"I'm offering to pay you in cash you know," the man said, "Understand?"

Both Hoa and Xuan winced. Normally that offer wouldn't manage to make Seung madder. It might've even soothed his temper. Each word, however, was drawn out very slowly as if the man was talking to a child. He disliked anyone insinuating anything about his intelligence, even if it was true.

If this customer had been talking to him for any length of time then he should've noticed that. Perhaps he just had a penchant for pissing people off. Xuan suppressed a giggle as Seung turned a deep shade of puce. When he started shouting again she frowned.

"He's loosing a perfectly good deal," she said as she pulled her long black braid, a nervous habit of hers, "It's painful to watch."

"He's been refusing to sell to ," Hoa said.

"That's stupid," Xuan frowned, "No wonder his business isn't so good."

"He thinks it's a moral issue."

"Moral issue my ass. He's just being a moron like usual."

The shouts from downstairs became louder and several incredibly creative insults were spouted from the pale man. After mentally filing a few of these away for future reference she grinned interestingly at the unfolding scene. She was almost disappointed when it ended without a fight. Peering over the rail Xuan saw that the man had turned his back on Seung and was now walking out.

Something clicked in her mind. This man needed scrap metal, and she needed money. It was really quite obvious what needed to be done. A new grin came to her face. She went back into the house to go out the back staircase.

"What are you doing?" Hoa said, slightly panicked.

"Getting us out of here," she said, "When opportunity knocks you open the door."

"What opportunity?"

"What Seung doesn't know can't hurt him," Xuan replied.

Before Hoa could say another word Xuan was hurrying down the steps. Xuan took them two at a time and hit the street running when she got down. She needed to find the man before he left the neighborhood. That wouldn't be a particularly easy feat in the darkness. By the time the sun rose though, he would most likely have gone.

All this and more went through her head as she raced through the street. She could see him now. Trying to look like she hadn't just run all the way there she took a few gulps of air before tapping him on the shoulder.

"I think you didn't finish a business transaction," she said in English.

He turned around and glared at her. This was the first time she had actually seen him this close. He had this creepy white skin and very dark circles under his eyes. For a brief moment she wondered if he was some sort of ghost. There was certainly something that struck her about him as…odd. Swallowing she scolded herself for stupid thoughts.

"Oh rea-lly?" he said, "Seemed about as final as a lollipop if you ask me."

She frowned. Had she heard him right?

"What's final about a lollipop?" she asked.

"As if you didn't know," he snorted.

The thought that the man was completely insane crossed her mind. None the less she shook it off before saying;

"You see, you only think that because you did business with the wrong person. My cousin can be kind of a-"

"Jackass?" finished the man.

"I was going to say moron," she said, "But jackass works fine too. See, you seem to be in need of metal, and Seung owns half the scrap yards around here. Those are the only ones with decent prices. Otherwise you're paying an arm and a leg. To cut a long story short you're not going to get any unless you do some under the table stuff."

Instead of looking secretive and suspicious like she'd expected him too he suddenly looked rather pleased.

"Good," he said, "'cause I really hate all this legitimate business deal shit."

Xuan felt taken back. Was this man some sort of criminal? The thought of running back to her grandmother was becoming appealing. Then the thought of getting away from her bastard of a cousin shoved the others out.

"Well then," she said, trying to force some confidence into her voice, "Just give me your address, I deliver it, and you give me the money when I get there. Simple."

"Not that simple," he said as he started waving his unbroken arm around in wild gestures, "I don't want anyone knowing that I'm getting this. So can we go _all Da Vinci Code_ with this and make it just a touch more secret then that?"

"_Da Vinci Code_?" she frowned.

"Oops," he said, "I mean keep it quiet."

Once more Xuan shrugged off some of the warning signals her brain was sending.

"Obviously we want to keep it quiet," she said, "But you don't want anyone at all to know you're getting it?"

"It might raise…questions," he said, "And not what two plus two equals kind of questions either."

About scrap metal?

"So what do you suggest?" she inquired, placing her hands on her hips, "Because if you want a ton of secrecy about this then that's going to cost extra dong you know."

At his irritated look she added;

"It'll still be less then what the other scrap yards will be charging foreigners. No offense, but it'll be kind of hard to hide that, you being paler then paper and all. I mean, you're practically glowing right now."

She saw him grin.

"I have been known to light city blocks," he said, "But talking about this here might not be smart. I'll just give you my address so we can work out the details there."

"Fine by me," she said, again trying to sound like she did this all the time.

The man cocked his head at her. She had the oddest feeling that she was being sized up. Then he took out a pen and a pad of paper, scribbling something.

"You do read English, right?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Here you go," he said as he handed it to her.

He then held up the palm of his hand. For a minute Xuan thought that he was waving even though she couldn't fathom why. Then she squinted her eyes and saw that the word 'Goodbye' was tattooed on his palm. He closed his hand before turning around and walking away. Xuan stared, trying to figure out just what the hell was up with him. Giving up after a few minutes she looked down at the rather messily scrawled note;

Spooky's, western avenue, 97 street. Back door. Tomorrow at 2300. Ask for Klaus Hargreeves.


	2. Chapter 2

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Séance muttered to himself as he opened the back door to Spooky's.

His hands were trembling again and he'd broken out into a cold sweat. On his way back the street had started to spin like it was in the middle of a hurricane. Séance even suspected that he'd had a few hallucinations. How else would you explain the cheetah? Stumbling into the back-lounge area he collapsed onto one of the sofas.

Quitting cold turkey wasn't as easy as he'd thought it would be. It wasn't really the mental capacity of being a junkie that he was mainly worried about. In other words the almost constant need, feeling of deprivation, and habit to do really freaky and spontaneous things weren't really on his mind. (He was actually worried about all that too though. Last night he had started singing Barney songs for fuck sake.) It was the physical aspects of quitting that were hitting him hardest at the moment.

Being told to stop being such a fairy had hurt. It had hurt bad. He figured that went hand in hand with the drugs though, so quitting had been the obvious decision. It wasn't like they had anything he liked in 1960 anyway. It was actually the logical decision as well as the obvious to make, which wasn't usual for him.

There weren't even any **pharmaceutical **drugs that would help him. Nicotine patches hadn't even been invented yet! Then again, did cigarettes count? Probably not. It wasn't as though they were illegal or anything. Tobacco wasn't really a drug if you thought about it. Did it give you hallucinations or make you feel really really good? No! So therefore it couldn't be a drug.

Now all he needed was to get some cigarettes. That'd be good. Yeah. Then again, if you went by that standard, how were drugs defined? Did they have to be liquids, powders, or chewables? Perhaps if he just did drugs that were powders he'd be fine. Those couldn't count either. It just didn't make sense for them too. Yeah…that was it….

Suddenly Séance banged his head against the wall behind the sofa.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" he repeated, only this time he punctuated each word with slamming his head against the wall.

Excellent. Now he had a headache to go with the constant need to find a fuckload of drugs and take them all in one go.

"Still having a hard time dealing with withdrawal?" Pogo asked as he walked into the room with a cup of coffee, "You do know that if you'd never started then you'd never have had to quit."

Séance glared at the chimp. He was starting to regret inviting him over. If he hadn't needed him to help build the televator then he'd have probably done something rather drastic. He knew that that would be so damaging to the time-stream but it would feel so damn good.

He probably wouldn't be feeling this way if it was the Pogo he remembered. This wasn't though. It wasn't the silent, stoic Pogo who had at least fifty years on him. It was the sarcastic and know-it-all twenty-some-odd Pogo. (This version irritated the hell out of him.) Back then his advice had been more biting then useful. The absolute last thing he needed when he was trying to quit was a smart-ass.

"Couple 'o years too late space-monkey," he snapped.

"I have no idea why you insist on calling me that," Pogo said as he put down a cup of coffee, "And I forbid you to tell me."

"You sure?" he grinned evilly, "You sure you don't wanna know what's going to happen? Huh, huh?"

"No I don't," Pogo said coolly.

"You **really **sure?" he asked, leering unpleasantly, "'Cause I can tell you what's going on back at the Academy."

"If you tell me," stated Pogo levelly, "Then I will pack up and go back to the Academy this instant. Have fun trying to put the televator together by yourself."

Séance pouted, sticking his lower lip out. (Why did he always have to play that card?) Almost immediately he had to suppress the urge to put a hand to his forehead. His headache was getting a lot worse. Complaining about it wouldn't elicit any sympathy though. Kraken or Space probably would've made better candidates for helpers then Pogo made. If only he could find one of them…

"Coincidentally," Pogo said, "Did you get the metal we need? We can't go ahead without it and I was under the impression that you wanted this done some time this decade."

He thought about the girl he'd run into earlier. It was quite lucky that he'd done so. For the sake of everything evil and demented he had gotten tired of keeping a low profile. However, how to break the news to Pogo? In addition to being a smart-ass he was also a tight-ass. (Séance wondered how his poor ass could take it.)

"Hmmmmmmmmm," Séance said, trying to figure out how to say it, "Yes and no."

"Yes and no?"

"Yes and no," he said, getting up.

Having a nap would be really good now, and it was far too bright in the lounge area for that to work. Pogo wasn't having any of that though.

"Do you mind explaining?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

Here came the hurricane. Séance winced. (Why couldn't people just let him be as irresponsible as he wanted? Really.)

"I bought it but it hasn't been delivered yet so to speak," said Séance tiredly.

"Thank goodness," sighed Pogo, "I thought you- wait, so to speak?"

Hands on hips Pogo glared at him. Rubbing his temples in an attempt to get through the throbbing headache he said;

"I don't think-"

"Did you do something illegal?" Pogo snapped, raising his voice.

"Chill!" Séance said, wincing, "I have the badass grandma of all headaches right now so if you could be just a teensy bit quieter-"

"Didn't you get raised to know better then that!?" Pogo said, his voice not lowering in the slightest.

Purple and black spots were starting to swim in front of his eyes. This wasn't an ordinary headache. If he'd known withdrawal from cocaine would've done this then he'd just have taken more. All he wanted to do was curl up somewhere. Nonetheless, Séance wasn't going to let that last one go.

"No," he said, "I **wasn't**."

He remained conscious for just enough time to see Pogo's shocked and slightly terrified face. Priceless.


	3. Chapter 3

"This is a bad idea," warned Hoa the next night.

"Perhaps," Xuan said as she finished putting her hair back into its usual braid, "But the way I see it is we don't have any other options."

"You can just go on with what you're doing with the account books," Hoa pleaded, "We can get money that way too."

Xuan sighed. In truth she was nervous about going out to do this. She didn't know her way around the city too well, and this was the first time that she would leave the precinct they lived in. Not to mention the fact that she didn't like the idea of hanging around with the type of people who would do under-the-table deals.

Yet, she wasn't going to worry her grandmother. She had thought long and hard about this and it was the best way. Opening one of the cabinet drawers she started looking for something.

"The more we do that the greater risk of detection we run," she said, "Seung checks his books more then he checks his products. If he finds out what I'm doing I'll get thrown out. Feel like going to Giang's?"

Hoa winced at the mention of Seung's brother's name. While Seung had the reputation of being a decent businessman Giang had a notorious background. In other words, he was a foul tempered drunk. Unlike Seung who only got drunk and violent occasionally, he did it every day. Yet, after Seung he was their only relative. That's where they'd be going if they didn't find a place of their own.

"Just…" Hoa said, "just be careful. I don't like this."

"I can take care of myself," said Xuan as she slipped a large kitchen knife into one of her pockets, "And don't worry about it. I'll be back in two hours at most."

She kissed her grandmother on the forehead before going out the back door. Seung wouldn't notice she was gone until the next morning in the very least. Even if he did catch her she could probably lie about taking a walk or something. It would be a convincing lie if, that is, he didn't know for just how long she had been gone. If he did then she would probably be in for more bruises.

Taking a deep breath she went down the stairs leading to the street two at a time. When she hit the pavement she didn't run, but tried to adopt a speedy casual pace. Xuan passed by darkened houses. Not many people would be up at this time of the night. She passed tenement after tenement and shop after shop until she reached the edge of her neighborhood. Soon she would be farther in the city than she had ever been. Yet, that thought didn't terrify her as much as she thought it would. To be perfectly frank it excited her.

At the moment it didn't matter that she could get beaten or tossed into the streets for what she was doing. She'd been nervous about that in the house, but not right now. By all rights she should be petrified like Hoa had been. Instead she was, to her surprise, enjoying herself. Perhaps it was the defiance that she was showing to her cousin. More likely it was probably about the fact that for once she had her fate in her own hands.

As she travelled down the street she realized that it was getting more and more crowded. 'Spooky's' was obviously near the center of town. She actually wondered what it was as she dodged the night traffic. The man, this 'Klaus', hadn't been too specific. It might've helped her to find it, if she'd known what it was. To her it sounded like it was some sort of bar.

At least she hadn't told Hoa her suspicions. Hoa was a great guardian and had taken care of her quite well. However, her grandmother was quite old fashioned and didn't approve of a lot of things, and bars were one of them. Swearing and drinking were others, which made Seung the poster boy for bad behaviour.

When she first reached it she actually thought that her idea was confirmed. It did look like a bar from the outside. After all, it was decked out with glowing red, orange, and yellow neon lights. From the few bars that she'd walked by that seemed like it was about right.

It glittered quite beautifully in the darkness. There hadn't been any lights like that where she had grown up. Her grandmother had once said that the prettiest buildings were the most immoral. Considering what she was bout to do though, she had no right to be thinking about moral or immoral

Quickly she started walking to the side of the building. Her foot stepped in something sticky and she knew better then to look down. She felt relieved that she wasn't wearing anything she cared about as the alley was absolutely filthy and incredibly poorly lit. After a few minutes of searching she found the door listed on the piece of paper.

She knocked and almost immediately it was answered by a rather intimidating man. He must've been seven feet tall and weighed a ton in muscle.

"I'm here to see Klaus Hargreeves?" she asked, surprised by how calm she managed to keep her voice.

"Five minutes," the man grunted before slamming the door.

The feeling of elation she had earlier was quickly leaving her. Now she was once again wondering what the hell she had managed to get herself into. First had been stealing money from the books. Now she was stealing merchandise and selling it to some guy she had met in the street. How dumb could she be? Wonderful.

Impatiently she tapped her toes. Every few minutes they stuck to the stupid pavement and she had to work to lift them. Frustration and impatience started to mix together. It had definitely been more then five minutes. She checked her watch. She'd been in that alley for fifteen minutes. She'd been on time and everything too.

Music and snatches of conversation filtered through the windows. It sounded upbeat, unlike anything she'd heard before. After awhile she realized that her foot was keeping the beat. Interesting. She spent a few relatively pleasant minutes doing this. Only after she heard a few catcalls did she stop abruptly and realize what the place was.

She actually hadn't been expecting a strip club of all things. She groaned. Xuan certainly wouldn't be telling Hoa **this**! A bar would've made Hoa force her to call it off but a strip club would have her grandmother saying she was going to burn forever in hell. On top of everything else she knew that this was not going to be a good night. She was starting to feel like a truck that had been loaded beyond its maximum capacity. Xuan got the feeling that she was in way out of her depth here.

Then she started to feel anger. There were many different variants of it. First she felt angry at herself for being scared and nervous. Second she felt angry at Seung for causing the stupid situation. Thirdly, and this was the most intense of the levels, she felt furious at this Klaus making her go into this place. Why couldn't it have been a bar? Now she was going into a strip club! When she got her hands on that man…

Trying to calm herself down she lit a cigarette. Once again that was something that her grandmother didn't approve of. She needed something to take away some of the stress though. Xuan took a deep drag. It had absolutely no effect on what she was feeling. She was still angry as hell and felt like hurting something.

As though the Universe was somehow listening to her thoughts the man came back to the door.

"You can come in now," he grunted.

Taking one more puff of the cigarette she walked towards the doorframe. Unfortunately the man wouldn't move from the door and Xuan spent some very uncomfortably minutes getting around him. He smelt like their neighbor's pig sty when it hadn't been cleaned out for several days.

When she finally managed to get past him he gestured to one of the side rooms. She nodded and opened the door, taking an angry drag of her cigarette.


	4. Chapter 4

Séance was in hell. After he'd passed out Pogo had just kind of left him there. He'd been fine in about eight minutes but had gone to sleep for the rest of the day. Now he still felt like shit and had decided that this must be what hell was like. He'd been to heaven once and had thought that was bad. As it turned out hell was a helluva lot worse. (Heh, **hell **was a **hell**uva lot worse. Bad puns always made him laugh.)

In any case it still felt like there was a tiny person inside his head with a mallet who was banging up against the walls. When he was younger he'd heard a legend about a god who'd had a goddess inside of his head trying to get out. At the end of the story he'd pounded his head open and the goddess got out. (Fucking weird story if you asked him.) He really hoped that it wasn't happening to him.

"Sir?" one of the employees said (He liked being called 'Sir'. Made his day.), "There's a woman here to see you."

Séance gave a cursory glance at his watch. Was it time already? Yep, it was.

"Send her in," he said dismissively.

The employee shrugged his shoulders and walked out. He looked over to the side. Pogo had thoughtfully left a glass of cold water on the table next to the couch. He gulped it down. He needed to at least appear to have it together or he'd end up getting ripped-off. That would be the perfect end to the perfect day.

A few minutes later the girl walked into the room. She was smoking. The powers that be really were out to get him.

"Do you mind?" he snapped, "There's an ash tray you know."

She looked surprised and then followed his gaze to the cigarette.

"Are you asthmatic?" she asked.

"N-o," he said.

"Hmmm. Then yes," she said as she took another long drag, "I do mind. They're kind of expensive."

He couldn't afford to piss this girl off too much. If he did then he could lose the materials. He had to think about getting that televator done. God he always hated having to be the responsible one. Gritting his teeth he said;

"So, what exactly is the going rate for what I want?" he asked, getting to his feet and suppressing the urge to shove the stupid cigarette in her face,

The girl thought about it for a minute.

"That'd be 2,154,200 dong," she said.

Quickly he did the calculations in his brain. It wasn't easy. Math had always come easy to him, but right now he had the worst headache that the world had ever cursed a man with. Still he got a pretty good estimate. That was only about 120 dollars, which was a lot better then what the other places were charging.

"Okay."

She raised her eyebrows. (She was **still **smoking!)

"You aren't going to try to barter or anything?"

"Do you want me to?" he said, raising his eyebrows and flaring his headache.

"Just expected you to," she shrugged, and took another damn breath of smoke!

"Also," she said, "I take half up front you know. In cash. No cheques or bank statements, just cash."

"A little demanding, aren't we?"

"You've haven't heard the half of it," she said, "Half up front means half up front tonight."

"Now you're being unreasonable," he snapped.

"Just cautious," she said calmly, "You can always try someone else if you don't like it."

"Fine, fine fine fine. Half up front," he said, annoyed.

Her attitude was completely pissy already. Never mind him not trying to piss her off, oh no, she came pre-done. Ready meals for all! His eye twitched as he watched her smoke some more, which just reignited his headache.

"Wait here," he said.

Turning away he stalked out of the door and to the safe. To be honest they only had that amount in cash so he was glad she didn't want to be paid in advance. As he reached down to get the money he felt his headache flaring up again. Now he was going back into the room with smoke! The rehab god hated him. That was what it was. In fact, he'd gotten the impression that all gods hated him. Whoopdy-freaking doo.

When he walked back into the room he realized that she was still smoking. How long could you smoke one cigarette anyway?

"Here," he snapped.

She looked quizzically at him and counted it out. As she did so he buried his head in his hands. Headache and cigarette. Hard to tell which one was worse. She finished and looked up at him.

"Is this cigarette bothering you **that **much?" she asked, cocking her head.

"Yes," he snapped, "Trying to quit here!"

Shrugging she put it out in the ash tray. Séance noticed that the cigarette was only half smoked when she put it out. Even so he silently he thanked the great god of rehab. Turns out that one of them might like him after all. His attitude towards the girl was rapidly warming.

"What I'd like to discuss now," he said, "Is how we're going to get it here exactly."

She thought for a few minutes.

"Well, we can't deliver it here. Obviously," she said, "And I doubt you can come over and just pick it up. Seung would kill me."

"The jackass?" he said as he rubbed his temples.

He saw her smile to herself. (Nice smile. Reminded him of a time when he'd smiled like that. He had just stolen all of Space's socks…but that was another story.)

"The jackass, yeah. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. If he's not at home though," he thought aloud, "Then no harm done right?"

She gave him a long look, more calculating then irritated.

"What are you suggesting?"

"The way I see it," he said, "This guy's a jackass right?"

"I'm pretty sure we've confirmed that," she said, rolling her eyes.

"So does the jackass like to get drunk?"

Something undistinguishable flashed in her eyes. Almost nervously she ran her hand up and down her right arm.

"Yes."

"Often?"

"Only about once a month," she said.

"So is there any specific date?"

"Nah," she said, "It's kind of random."

There was a pause. Her left hand picked up her braid and started tugging on it.

"What we could do…he usually stays out for hours…" she said finally, "…so if you're on call all the time…then I could just get you when he goes out…"

"Do 'ya have the keys for the shop or something?" he asked.

"I can get them," she grinned (There was that smile again.) "I'll see you when it's ready. The exit's the third door on the left right?"

"Yes indeedy."

She turned around and walked out the door. He was about to take another gulp of water when he realized that the way out wasn't through the third door to the left. That was the way to the televator room. The one no one was supposed to know about Dropping the glass of water he flung open the door and hurried towards the televator room. Maybe she hadn't gotten there yet.

No such luck. The door was open, and what's more Pogo was sautering shut the hydrochloric space discombobulater. Currently he was being stared at by the girl. Both of them had an odd deer in the headlights look to them. She turned and stared at him when he came in.

"Oh…fuck," he managed.

Desperately he sought for anything to say.

"It's not what it looks like," he said, a line that he had used far too much.

"Tell me," she said slowly, "What does it look like exactly?"

True, the televator didn't look like anything in particular. It certainly didn't look like anything normal though. He looked at Pogo for support. Pogo said;

"Young lady, we are simply-"

"One questions," she said raising her hand, "Is this going to bring about the end of the world, city, or block?"

"Ummmmmm…" said Séance, completely confused, "No."

"Okay," she said, "I don't give a shit then."

Séance looked over her to see the stunned expression on Pogo's face.

"It's none of my business," she said, now being the one whose turn it was to rub their temples "And frankly I don't think I want to know. So, which door out of here?"

Once more Pogo and Séance stared at each other.

"Fourth door to the left," he said at last.

"Thanks," she said, starting to go out the door.

She stopped at the door frame.

"Coffee and heat help headaches you know," she said, "Try a warm towel or something. Can't have you all hung-over next time."

Séance watched her as she went. Letting out a breath Pogo put down the sautering gun and walked up beside Séance.

"That was a close call," he said.

He paused for Séance's response.

"I said that was a close call," he repeated.

"Pogo?" Séance asked.

"Yeah?" Pogo said cautiously.

Séance turned around with a goofy but oddly maniacal smile on his face.

"I think I'm in love."


	5. Chapter 5

"Out so late?" their neighbor Cam asked.

"I'm running an errand!" Xuan explained.

Nodding to herself Cam continued sweeping.

"Just be careful."

"I will."

It week later Xuan was sneaking out again. It was fun to do it now. There was some sort of confidence that she had gained from the first time. Not to mention that she knew Seung was going to be gone for a very long time. He'd left the house about five minutes before she had. It had been her passing hobby to figure out how long she wouldn't have to deal with him, so she had a pretty good estimate how long he'd be out.

Normally he'd been out for about two hours. However, it appeared that Giang's wife had recently died and the two brothers were using it as an excuse to get drunk. May God have mercy on that woman for putting up with him for all those years. Yet, the two of them would be out longer now. By her count she had at least five hours to transport the metal from there to Spooky's.

She could've laughed as she ran through each street. Xuan and Hoa were almost free. She wouldn't have to listen to Seung or be on the receiving end of his temper ever again. Despite everything it was all going to work out. That is, of course, if Klaus didn't do anything really stupid.

.

.

.

"You barely know her," Pogo said.

"Who cares about that?" Séance said evilly, "Plenty of time for that sort of thing later."

"You don't even know her name," said Pogo, exasperated.

For about the millionth time since Séance had made the declaration Pogo had been trying to talk him out of it. The results were always the same. He just didn't care.

"I can find it out," Séance shrugged.

"This is wonderful," Pogo moaned, "Just wonderful. You're running an illegal operation with a potentially dangerous machine in the basement and now you've developed some sort of crush on a girl which might start a paradox. You've really hit the jackpot this time."

"Paradox schmaradox," said Séance, wiping away some of the cold sweat that still plagued him every now and then, "Who cares about that sort of shit?"

"**You** should!" Pogo exclaimed.

Shrugging again Séance took a seat and leaned back. There was something more irritating about Séance when he liked someone than when he hated someone.

"I am not looking forward to you hitting puberty," Pogo sighed.

"You're worried about moi?" he asked, "You should be worried about Rumor and Space. More specifically Rumor and Space together. Hee hee hee."

"WHAT?" Pogo shouted.

"Ooooooooo," he said, "You don't want me to tell you about the future, do you? Sorry about that."

The grin on his face obviously said he wasn't.

"But I really would keep an eye on them," Séance said seriously.

"Thanks for the advice," groaned Pogo.

"Then again, while you're keeping an eye on them then you might not be able to see what Kraken and Vanya are doing."

"EXCUSE ME?"

"T.M.I?" asked Séance.

"What's that mean?" Pogo asked.

"Too much information?"

"Yes! Far too much."

"I was just joking with you," Séance said, "It doesn't happen."

"Really?"

"That's the joke. Of course it happens."

"Klaus-"

"It doesn't," he chuckled, "I kid myself."

"One of these days I'm going to go insane and lock you in a closet," Pogo said.

"'Cause that isn't paradoxical at all," snorted Séance.

Before Pogo could respond a knock on the door interrupted him. It opened to reveal one of the club employees.

"It's that woman again sir," he said.

Séance's grin increased.

"Send her in," he said.

As the employee left he shot a wicked look at Pogo.

"That's my cue."

.

.

.

Xuan led Klaus and the chimp he introduced as Pogo through the streets. Or rather she gave them directions. The truck they were driving said Middleton shipping co. on it. She really didn't want to speculate where it had really come from.

"We there yet?" Klaus asked, again.

"No," she said tersely.

She watched the chimp shoot her a curious look, but he quickly looked away when he saw that she'd noticed. He was kind of worrying to her. She hadn't grown up in a culture where talking chimps were a particularly normal phenomenon. Still, she wouldn't have to shoulder her discomfort for too long.

"You turn right here," she said.

"I got it, I got it," he said.

He was starting to irritate her again. Heaven only knew why she had bothered to put out that cigarette last time. She thought about it as she stepped out of the car. Perhaps it was because he just looked so pathetic.

"Hoa's waiting 'round back," she said, jerking her thumb in the right direction.

Both chimp and man shrugged at each other and followed her. As she'd instructed Hoa had been waiting with the metal, making sure that no one had come across its odd hiding place and said something about it. After that Hoa went back into the building. The nights were chilly and Hoa hadn't exactly had the best of health recently.

Xuan looked proudly at the collection of metal. It had taken her several nights to squirrel it all away. Several times she had almost been seen by some of Seung's brighter employees. Moving it hadn't been particularly easy either. The metal was changeable and somewhat floppy but sharp at the same time. Xuan had the cuts on her hands to prove it.

It was easier when she was working with Klaus and Pogo. Ideally there would've been four people to do this with, but this wasn't exactly an ideal situation. It wasn't particularly heavy but once again it was the fact that the damn metal couldn't stay in any one position. The metal re-cut her hand and she winced slightly.

At long last they loaded it into the truck. Xuan almost couldn't believe that it had been that easy. There hadn't been any interruptions and almost no obstacles. Everything had just seemed to fall into her hands. She smiled to herself. A few minutes went by before she realized that Klaus was actually saying something.

"-and here's the other half," he said, handing her the remaining bills.

She nodded and put them inside one of her pockets. When had he had time to get inside the car? Xuan needed to start paying more attention.

"Xuan?" Hoa called softly, "Are you done?"

"Be there in a minute Hoa," she whispered loudly back.

Klaus looked at her with something like amusement.

"So your name's Xuan eh? Puh-retty."

It was only then that she realized that she'd never told him her name. Why should she have though? There hadn't been any point.

"Obviously," she shrugged.

"Does it mean anything?"

"Spring," she said, "Why? Does **your** name mean something in American?"

"Yeah," said Klaus, "Means that some fancy-pants father tried to make his son sound smart, that's what."

Xuan laughed.

"Well," he said, "Looks like the business transaction's done. But-"

He leaned forwards conspiratorially.

"-if we need any more nuts or bolts I'll ask you. I'm cheap you know."

He gave this strange sort of grin at her. As he did so she felt an odd fluttering feeling in her stomach. It was sort of like excitement. She frowned momentarily but shook it off.

"Ask away," managed Xuan.

He grinned again, or was it closer to a smirk? Rolling his eyes disgustedly Pogo pulled the truck out of the driveway. Xuan nodded satisfactorily to herself. Good day's work done.

.

.

.

"We can get nuts and bolts **legally**," Pogo groused as Séance turned a corner.

"Now I know her name," Séance said smugly, "Me one, you zip."

His hands started trembling again. Suddenly he jerked to the side, nearly running them off the road before he got control back.

"You're going to be the death of me," sighed Pogo.

"No I'm not," Séance said reasonably, "Vanya is."

"I'm not falling for that again."


	6. Chapter 6

A few days later Séance kneeled on the floor and looked over Pogo's shoulder as he worked. (He was just doing it to be irritating. Heaven knew that he had **no **idea what Pogo was doing.) Pogo gave an angry sigh. Séance wanted Pogo to ask him what he was doing so he could say something that would raise the chimp's blood pressure. No such luck. Pogo had probably learned his lesson a month ago.

He saw Pogo's hand reach for a few bolts. His hand shuffled in the box, a box that was nearly empty. With a satisfied smile Séance said;

"Looks like we need more."

"Stop being a complete idiot," Pogo said.

"I'm not being a **complete** idiot," he said, looking hurt, "I'm just a fractional idiot. So how much do you think we need?"

Putting down the wrench (Hah, the monkey had a monkey wrench!) Pogo turned and looked at him.

"I'll get them myself. From a reputabledealer."

"Now there's bad manners," frowned Séance, "Xuan's a nice girl. So's the old woman."

"Nice people who deal under the table," Pogo snorted, "Nice people who you happen to carry a torch for."

"Not for **both** of them," said Séance in disgust.

"You know what I mean."

"Maybe, maybe not. Besides, it gives me something to occupy my time with," grinned Séance.

"How did you ever turn out so wrong?" Pogo asked the world in general.

"You know what space-monkey?" Séance declared as he got to his feet, "You need to loosen up. Go out, get stinking drunk, and end up in a ditch wearing someone else's clothes and holding a lacrosse stick."

"You act as though that's happened to you," hissed Pogo.

"It has. Only I had Christmas lights too."

(Actually Séance was still kind of wondering what had happened there.)

"In any case," Séance continued, "I'm sending out."

"Klaus," Pogo sighed, "You know that this isn't a good idea. On a scale of one to ten for shear wrongness this is about a fifteen."

"Pffft," Séance said, "You worry about the math. I'llworry about the bolts."

With a rather patronizing pat on the head Séance strolled out. He heard Pogo swearing under his breath as he did. (How was **that **for raising the blood pressure?)

.

.

.

"I don't believe this," Hoa said as she looked at all of the bills spread out in the space in the space between the mattress and bed frame.

A few rays of early morning light shining through. Staying up very late at night seemed to be the only way to get anything done in relative privacy around there.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about," Xuan said, a touch of smugness creeping into her voice, "We're just about in the clear. I won't even have to mess with the account books anymore."

"2,154,200 dong," said Hoa speculatively, "That could probably get us out of this country. Perhaps we could try going to England or some such place. Far away from where they know us and you do speak the language."

A smile crossed Xuan's face. Then she frowned.

"Hoa," she said, "What happens once we get there?"

"What?" asked Hoa in surprise.

"Once we get away," she repeated, "I mean, air fare would most likely take all of this up. We should have something to live off of afterwards until we get back on our feet…"

Both of them looked at the bills speculatively. Xuan sighed.

"Perhaps I do have to start on the books again," she said.

"Well," Hoa said hesitantly, "Perhaps…no."

"What?" Xuan frowned.

"…I was just thinking that…" said Hoa slowly, "Since it worked so good the first time…maybe you could do this again?"

That would've been the logical thing to do. It had certainly brought in a good deal of money for them. Xuan thought about what Klaus had said last night about perhaps needing some more things. That would bring in more money then if she just meddled with the books again.

Yet, she wasn't sure that she liked the idea. She didn't really trust Klaus and whatever it was he was doing in the basement. He definitely wasn't a good person. Was he sarcastic and annoying? No doubt about that. Did he sometimes scare the shit out of her by the way he talked, looked, acted, oh just about everything? Without a doubt.

At the same time she sort of wanted to trust him though. In the very least he was funny, and he was the reason she had the money that would help her take her far from here. There were a lot of things sloshing around in her mind about him actually. The most of all was that odd fluttering feeling in her stomach.

There were other things though. She didn't trust herself to talk about it to Hoa though. Xuan hadn't really figured out what any of them meant or if any of it was actually good or bad. She'd never had to deal with this sort of thing before. The only thing that she did know was that it was actually borderline irritating.

"Let's just…" Xuan said falteringly, "Let's just see how things work out, okay? I'll just do the bit with the books and if he contacts us again then that'll be great and we can go with that."

The look that Hoa gave her was slightly worrying.

"What?" she asked.

"Well," Hoa said as she watched Xuan carefully, "I was talking to Cam, I wasn't telling her what we were doing obviously, but she said…"

Xuan frowned at the mention of their alarmist neighbor. Finally Hoa sighed.

"It's nothing," she said, "Nothing at all."


	7. Chapter 7

"That could be a problem," Séance frowned, his eyebrows creasing, "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

Pogo and Séance sat in the lobby, going over the televator blue prints. One big glaring detail had been circled in red by Pogo. It had been an absolutely wonderful day. First he'd woken up thinking it would be a wonderful idea to hollow his head out and replace his brain with cantaloupe. Fortunately Pogo had taken the knife out of his hands.

Next he'd had a roaring headache which made him want to eat all the aspirin in the world. Now there was this.

"I **did **tell you about this when we started out," sighed Pogo, "But it appears that you don't listen."

"You just figured that out?" asked Séance, taken back, "Well, that's just more conclusive evidence that you're not as smart as you look."

"More?"

"You see, in the future-"

"Listen," Pogo said, "Can you get the uranium or not? Otherwise there's no way that this will work."

Séance paused for a minute.

"I think I know the right people for something like that. It's going to take a helluva lot of money though."

He leered unpleasantly. He was kind of hoping Pogo would ask how he knew people who would be able to sell uranium on the black market. No such luck though.

"As it happens we do have a good deal of money so that will be fine."

"Yeah," smirked Séance, "Because we've been saving money on-"

"Because you happen to like a girl who does illegal dealings," interrupted Pogo, "Just get it and we can get this over with."

"Yeah, well," Séance said as he leaned against a wall, "This might be a bit more difficult then you think. Do you know Vietnamese?"

"Yes. I'm reasonably fluent in most of the languages on Earth," frowned Pogo, "Why?"

"Not all of them speak English," shrugged Séance, "And I don't speak Vietnamese."

"Then how are you friends with-" Pogo started to ask.

He was interrupted by a knock on the door. Tiredly Pogo went and answered it. It was the same employee as always.

"She's-" he started to say.

"Next time just show her in," snapped Séance, "Wastes time."

He glared at his watch as the man shuffled out the door. (He'd had to buy a new one once they'd gotten there. Time travel totally fucks up watches.)

"She's already late anyway," groused Séance.

He'd have to tell her not to be late. He noted this about the same time he noticed Pogo staring at him. Throwing his hands in the air Pogo started to head upstairs.

"You deal with this," he said, "And try to hurry up with it, alright? There are other things going on then this."

"I got it, I got it," Séance said, waving him away irritably.

He drummed his fingers against the armrest. Where did she get the idea that she could be late? She didn't get to be late. He didn't want her to be late. Séance was going to tell her that too. (She was just too pretty when she was annoyed out of her mind. Hopefully she wouldn't get a cigarette out like last time though.) The door creaked open and he got ready to do so. Instead his jaw dropped open.

"What the fuck happened to you?"

She glared at him with one eye. It was difficult to tell what she was doing with her other one, as it had swelled rather terribly. Another bruise was on her jaw and her lip was bleeding slightly.

"None of your damned business," she snapped.

"I should say it is. It looks like you went through a meat grinder or something," he said, using the 'tact' that he was oh so proud of.

"I should say that it's still none of your damned business," she snapped again, emptying the contents of a bag, "Now if you would just give me the 900,000 dong we agreed on-"

"Okay, okay," he said, taking it out of his pocket and counting it out.

Every now and then he snuck a look at her. Something was up with the bruises. Well, obviously there was something, but this something was more then usual. Might've just been an accident. Yet, if it had just been an accident then she wouldn't be so defensive about it.

(Today was just full of problems, wasn't it? Who would've suspected that he'd need **uranium **of all things?) As he counted out the last bill he got an idea.

"How good are you with English?" he asked.

Xuan frowned.

"I'm talking to you, aren't I? Why do you ask?"

"I need some help with a…business transaction," he shrugged, "As you can see I don't speak a word of Vietnamese."

"If you plan on being here for awhile," snorted Xuan, "Then you should at least learn the language."

"No," he said firmly, "People should just move to accommodate **me**. That's one of the laws of the universe."

"Isn't that self-centered," she said, more of a statement and less of a question.

"At least I'm honest," he said, "Because yes; the universe actually does revolve around me and I don't really happen to care what you think."

"I know that. If you cared what I think," she snorted, "then you would've learned the language. Now what was the job again?"

"It's not exactly sneaking hardware out," Séance admitted, "but there is money in it. Probably just as much as that first job."

It was actually kind of gratifying to see the look on her face. He kind wondered what she was saving up for. It was probably shoes. Women like shoes. (So did he.) After awhile she'd nodded, her face bland. (Dammit, he'd hoped for one of those weird smiles of hers. 'Sock smiles' he called them.)

"When would this be?" she asked.

Quickly he calculated how much time it would take for him to set up a meeting.

"In 'bout two weeks or so."

Once more she nodded.

"See you then," she said, heading for the door.

"One more thing," he said.

Séance could see Xuan roll her eyes in irritation.

"What?"

"I thought your cousin was a jackass before now," he said, "but from the state of your face, I'd say he's reached full bastard level."

Her hand grasped the doorknob tighter.

"Looks like my guess was correct. Probably happens often, don't it?" he asked.

"I don't need sympathy," she said.

"Probably not," he smirked, "Buuuuuuuut I'm just saying he's a bastard in my book. A fucking bastard. Just thought you should know."

Her shoulders moved in an odd way. The smirk falling off his face he moved a little closer. It was only then that he realized she was crying. It wasn't like Xuan was wailing and sobbing, but it still scared him shitless. (Women crying always did.)

"Uh…um…well…" he stammered, trying to figure out what the he should be doing.

He reached out his hand, thinking a shoulder pat would be okay. Cautiously he stretched his arm out. It was then that her shoulders shook a little more and he withdrew his hand like it'd been burned. Trying once more he actually managed to make contact.

"He's a bastard," he repeated again.

She was still quiet. He actually started to get angry at this cousin of hers. All he needed to make that feeling go away was a baseball bat to this guy's head though.

"A big bastard," he tried again, not knowing what else there was to say.

Unexpectedly she leaned into his arm and before he knew it her head was on his shoulder. This had never happened. Should he insult her cousin again? Séance was rapidly running out of cusswords. Maybe he could give it a miss though. He'd seen this sort of thing in a movie. Tentatively he started running his hand in circles on her back.

She was still crying but a less then she had been a few minutes beforehand after all. (Which was good because he was wearing his best coat.) For a minute he stared at her, and then kind of smirked to himself. She was **that **close. Admittedly she'd been crying a few minutes ago, but she'd stopped now. Xuan was that close of her own volition. Not only that but she was still there for no apparent reason. How did that feel? It felt damned good.

After a minute she pulled away, and looked at him kind of oddly. What the hell was she thinking? He'd pay a wad of cash to whoever could tell him.

"Thanks," she said, her eyes looking like she was trying to figure something out.

"Any time," he said, "Well, not any time obviously. We're closed Wednesdays."

The corners of her mouth twitched and for a minute he thought he was going to get a sock smile. Then it was gone and she nodded before leaving. As soon as the door closed he murmured to himself, pleased;

"Smooth Klaus."


	8. Chapter 8

"What will I say if he asks where you are?" Hoa said worriedly.

Xuan shrugged as she got ready to go out, two weeks later.

"Tell him I'm sick. The man's a germaphob," she said.

"The forecast says that there's going to be some incredibly heavy rain," Hoa said, "It might not be safe for you to come home."

"I'll just stay there or something," replied Xuan with a touch of irritation as she headed to the door, "I've got it figured out, Hoa."

"Xuan," Hoa sighed, "I'm just worried about you."

Frowning she turned around.

"Explain."

For the first time that she could remember Hoa looked uncomfortable.

"It's just…" she started, her tongue running over the words nervously, "That man…do you…never mind."

"No," Xuan said, putting her hands on her hips, "Explain."

Hoa actually started squirming.

"I just don't think it's right," she said, "You're not married and…he's showing a bit too much interest in you…and you're showing a bit too much interest…"

The look of curious inquiry turned to something like anger.

"You think that I'd…that I'd…" spluttered Xuan, "You don't honestly think that I'd do that, do you?"

"No," said Hoa tiredly, "I trust you. I just don't trust **him**. Cam was telling me some stories…and it's just…I don't think someone like him would keep promises. That's all."

Shaking her head Xuan took some deep breaths before trying the doorknob.

"No matter what I do, I'll be fine. So there's no need to worry about me," she said, "I'll be fine."

That was what she thought as she headed outside. Talk about an awkward conversation. Xuan and Hoa had never really talked about that sort of thing before. It worried her that Hoa suddenly found the need to start, and the fact that Hoa had been worried enough to start discussing things with Cam. Did she think that Xuan was planning something like that? Unlikely.

She had a strictly professional relationship with Klaus. Well, besides the time that she had burst into tears and cried on his shoulder. Xuan shuddered when she thought about that. She was glad that she hadn't told Hoa about it. If she was worried about her granddaughter now, then she'd be out of her mind if she heard about that.

Hoa was already paranoid enough. Klaus. Showing an interest in her. As if. Was he? Nervously Xuan shook off that thought. He was a complete and total jerk. Except for the times when he actually showed a glimmer of slight sensitivity. Other then that though, he was a total jerk. One that she was specifically **not** interested in no less. Except for the times when she flirted with him. Oh boy.

By the time she got to Spooky's she knew she was in deep trouble. Once again deciding to ignore all of it she went in as usual. Unlike usual though, she met the monkey in the lobby. He looked at her and sighed. Clearing her throat she asked;

"Where's Klaus? I was supposed to be here to translate…?"

"He's out…obtaining…a car."

The way he shuddered when he said 'obtaining' brought back some of the worry she'd had the first time she'd met him. Xuan decided to shrug it off yet again.

"So, I'll just wait here then?"

The monkey, Pogo she thought his name was, shook his head.

"Go in the back, third door."

Xuan was a tad taken back. She wanted to say something but Pogo looked so damned frustrated. Instead she just rolled her eyes and went into the back. He sighed as she went down the hall and she wondered what was up. When she opened the door she got an idea why.

There was a dress. It was traditional, done in rather pretty shades of toned down silver and blue. Yet, it also looked more expensive then anything that she'd ever seen. It would probably fit her too. For a few minutes Xuan stared at it. Then she stared at it some more. Very slowly she closed the door and walked back to the lobby. She didn't say anything for awhile as Pogo looked away.

"What the hell's with the dress?" she asked at last.

Rubbing his temples he said;

"Klaus said it was kind of formal. He said it was a…last minute change. So…he got that."

His tone clearly showed that he didn't approve. Biting her lip she went back into the room. Once again she stared at the dress for a very long time. It was better then the old-fashioned shirt and pants she wore on a normal basis. Xuan wanted to wear it. Yet, what would Hoa say? Hell, what would her conscience say? She didn't like accepting gifts from anyone really. It was **really **pretty though.

Who said she was going to keep it? The thought made her perk up. She could ditch it after that night. That way it wasn't a gift; it was a loan. Tentatively she reached out and touched it. It was obviously silk and felt good under her fingers. Before she could change her mind she took it down and tried it on. It looked good. She kind of smiled to herself. There was no way she would be able to take it off now.

Xuan rebraided her hair so that it didn't look so completely bedraggled. The whole thing took a good three or four times but in the end it looked acceptable. Once she was done she took a long look in the mirror. Xuan grinned to herself. She looked pretty good if she said so herself.

"You done yet?!" she heard Klaus say impatiently from outside.

Snorting Xuan went and opened the door. Klaus didn't seem to be horribly dressed-up. There was a new coat, and perhaps the rest of the outfit was better quality then usual. He was still wearing sunglasses though. He looked her up and down and nodded.

"Presentable," he said, "Now come on. We're gonna be late."

Presentable? He was going to get it later. With one last exasperated look from Pogo they walked out the door. That was perhaps the only thing that happened on the way to wherever the hell they were going. The rest of the trip there was uneventful. Klaus didn't say anything, but she had a feeling he kept looking at her. She couldn't tell, because he was always pointedly looking away from her when she went to look back. It was kind of creepy.

The building that they arrived at was some sort of hotel. It was really, really big. Most of the buildings in that area were. She hadn't been in this part of the city before. It looked rather fancier and upscale then she had been used to. Nervously Xuan felt like it would be better if she just stayed in the car. Klaus dragged her out though and for the second time that night she knew she was going to give him an earful later.

In and of itself the lobby was probably five times bigger then her house. It was done up in the western style, marble columns and all. Looking down she realized that she could see her reflection in the floor. Her face still looked like it was nervous as hell. Swallowing hard she tried to get rid of the feeling. It wouldn't work that night or in fact any night.

"Okay then," Klaus said, "Wait here. Gotta tell 'em we're here."

Before she could say anything he was off. Gritting her teeth she resolved that she was going to hit him before the night was out.


	9. Chapter 9

"_Are you going to be here long_?" a man asked in Vietnamese.

Xuan looked up at the man. It looked like he worked for the hotel. She shrugged non-committally.

"_Well_," he explained, "_We have a no-smoking policy for the lobby. Are you going to be here long? If so then I'm going to have to respectfully suggest that you put it out_."

Looking down at the cigarette in her hand she put it out in a rather conveniently located ash-tray. She'd lit it more out of boredom then anything.

"_I might be here for awhile. I'm waiting for someone_," she responded in the same language.

"_Ah_," the man said, "_Are they going to be here soon_?"

"_He's been gone for about twenty minutes_," she said dryly, "_So he'd better be_."

The man chuckled.

"_Not often a pretty girl gets left in the lobby_," he said.

She felt sure she was blushing, but she leaned her face on her hand to cover it up.

"_Happens more then you think_," she said, thinking of the time in the alley.

He smiled at her and sat down.

"_Well, I'm sure he'll realize his mistake soon_," he said.

"_He'd better_," she muttered.

"_Then why bother being with him anyway_?" the man asked slyly.

It was about this time that Xuan started to feel just a tad uncomfortable. She wasn't used to these sorts of situations at all and she started wishing that she could leave. However, there didn't seem to be any way out. If he got too forward then she could always just go back to the car though. Smiling politely she said;

"_He's a business partner_."

Inwardly she cursed. She should've said something different. Now he figured it would be okay to keep flirting with her. She could see it on his face. Just say the first thing that comes into your mind. That was a **great **way to do things. Fantastic.

"_Well then_," he said, "_Then it appears that maybe we_-"

"Excuse me?"

Both Xuan and the man turned to see a rather miffed looking Klaus.

"Xuan," he said coolly, "They're ready to see us now."

Smiling apologetically at the man she got up. As she walked away Klaus said;

"Hate to break up the party there but we are actually doing something pretty important right now."

"Party?" she said, raising her eyebrows, "If you hadn't left me there then maybe guys wouldn't come over. It's called having some consideration."

"Hmph," Klaus snorted, "What were you talking to him about anyway?"

"That," she snapped, "Is for me to know and you to find out, isn't it?"

"Fuck that."

Cocking her head Xuan looked at him. He turned around and stuck out his tongue at her before pushing open a set of doors. How completely childish.

.

.

.

"I **know** that I heard the word uranium," Xuan said as they drove back.

"You didn't," he snapped.

"I did."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not always a gatrillion times more then you. Ha!"

Klaus pounded the wheel in triumph. Xuan sighed as she looked out the window. It had started to rain on the way back. If she knew the weather like she thought she did, and she did, then there was going to be a hell of a storm coming soon. She probably wouldn't be able to get home that night. He'd shrugged when she told him that. In the very least he said she could crash back at Spooky's if she absolutely had to.

How 'nice'. Other then that though he was starting to irritate her again. In that respect it was much like the way up in the fact that neither of them said a word. Sometimes she considered asking him just what his problem was. Well, what his problem was **that **night. Without a doubt he had some serious issues.

When they got back the rain had become something like a torrential downpour. As soon as she stepped out of the car she knew what was going to happen. Her suspicions were proved correct. By the time she got in the dress was covered in mud. She sighed irritably as Klaus went upstairs. Now she was probably going to have to pay for the outfit. It probably was worth more then her.

What was worse was that it had been so damn pretty. That was what she thought as she looked at herself in the full-length mirror in the lobby. Sadly she examined the muddied fabric. Such a shame. Such a fucking shame. There wasn't a thing she could do about it though.

Turning around she realized that the monkey was there again.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

She paused for a minute.

"The dress is ruined," she said at last, "I'll pay for it. There's not a lot else I can do about it. Chỉ cần đối phó với nó as my grandmother would say."

Pogo's eyebrows wrinkled.

"Just deal with it?" he asked, "That hardly sounds comforting."

"Not really," she laughed, "but I always found it to be- wait. You speak Vietnamese?"

"Yes," Pogo said, surprised.

"Then why did he hire me to…?" she started.

At that moment the man himself walked down the stairs, toweling his hair off. He stopped, looking from the now completely exasperated look on Pogo's face to the furious one on Xuan's.

"What?" he asked unhelpfully.

Xuan's hands slowly clenched into fists. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Pogo note this and get up very quickly before going into the other room.

"Why?" she asked, taking a few deep breaths.

"Why what?" he said, again the epitome of unhelpfulness.

"Why **EVERYTHING**!" shouted Xuan.

Looking startled he dropped the towel and took a step back.

"What, do you just invite me over so you can watch me get frustrated?"

"Um, yeah," Klaus frowned.

Xuan threw her hands up into the air.

"I don't get you. Why hire me when Pogo can speak Vietnamese? Why get on my back when I talk to people? And what's up with the dress?!" she snapped.

He looked at her blankly for awhile.

"Thought you'd look nice in blue," he said lamely.

She stared at him.

"You are weird," she said, "You are just plain weird. I'm going home."

The sound of the rain outside intensified.

"In that?" he frowned again.

"I'd rather take my chances in the rain," she snorted.

Turning around she marched towards the back interest. She could tell that he was looking at her, which made it all the weirder. Just as she'd opened the door he mumbled;

"Vì vậy, tôi đã làm nó vì tôi như bạn lớn đối phó."

Xuan stopped in the doorframe.

"What did you say?"

Vì vậy…tôi đã làm nó vì tôi như bạn lớn đối phó?"

Turning around Xuan looked back at Klaus. He had a kind of confused pouty look on his face. Suddenly going out in the rain didn't seem quite so appealing. Biting her lip she closed the door behind her. Xuan took a deep breath.

"Do you mean that?" she asked.

"Vâng," he said definitely.

Despite the fact that he was the one who was leaning his face a little closer Xuan was the one who closed the gap. Klaus's lips were chapped and probably scarred as well. They scratched uncomfortably against hers as he deepened the kiss. In all honesty it felt like she was kissing a scab. Xuan wondered distantly if he'd ever bothered to use Chap Stick. It certainly wasn't the type of kiss she had imagined.

Yet, she found that she wouldn't stop. No, she couldn't stop. When she paused for air she felt one of his hands go to the back of her hair. His hands threaded through her braid until it had fallen to pieces. Her long black hair fell over her shoulders and she looked up. There was only a moment's hesitation before she kissed him again, hard. Xuan felt his hands start to tangle in her hair. As for what happened next…well…she knew that Hoa wasn't going to approve.


	10. Chapter 10

Xuan left at around ten the next morning. It was kind of a shame because she looked real pretty sleeping. She should probably let her hair down more often, or sleep for longer. Either one would be good. Personally Séance hadn't slept since he was fifteen. He'd just kind of dozed since then. In any case he wished she'd stayed asleep a little longer. Made him kind of wonder what it was he was missing out on, if it made people look so goddamn happy.

Another reason why he kind of wanted her to stay asleep was that she left almost as soon as she'd gotten up. There hadn't been any rush, and he'd told her so. She'd insisted though. Any later, she'd said, and Hoa would be wondering where she was. Xuan didn't want to worry her. (This of course made no sense to Séance. He'd spent time outside the mansion just so that people would worry. To each their own.) That was cool though.

Well, it was, literally. The rain from the previous night had soaked the streets but it felt quite pleasant in the morning. Pleasant that is from other people's point of view. Séance hated good weather. (His idea of good weather was hail. Lots of people running around, getting pelted by sharp bits of ice. It was really funny.) Still, even he had to admit that it was a pretty good morning.

If only Pogo wouldn't stare at him like that! If Pogo was the UN and Séance had just tested nuclear weapons then he doubted the look he was giving him could have more venom. If not for that then the morning would be perfect. He did though, and Séance wondered how long it would take for him to say something. The weird urge to be the surrogate father for the Hargreeves would manifest itself sooner or later. (Hah! As if they needed another adoptive father. Bastards, the lot of them.)

He didn't relish the idea of getting chewed out by the chimp that morning. It was going so well after all. Not to mention the fact that he'd had enough of it over the past few weeks. Séance wished that he could just go out somewhere, leaving the tight-ass behind. Still, he had to be there to hand Pogo different tools for that morning's construction of the televator.

Two people were needed for safety reasons. Otherwise the stupid thing might blow up. Despite what he said to Xuan if it went wrong it could destroy the block…and the city…and the country…and the continent…and possibly the entire world but who was nitpicking?

"So," Pogo said, "she stayed the night."

Oh shit. Here it was.

"Yep," Séance answered.

For a minute more Pogo recalibrated the primary nitro-glycerin sphincter. He could feel it building.

"And she went home," continued Pogo as he gave the sphincter a quick counter-clockwise turn.

"Yep."

Calmly Pogo placed the wrench by him and stared at the televator. Séance wondered if he could get out of the room fast enough. Perhaps if he made a few objects float to his defense it could work out. They could be like some sort of shield. Very slowly he started edging towards the door. Pogo stood up. Too late.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA!" Pogo shouted, "WHAT YOU'RE DOING!?"

"Considering as you're the one who taught me 'bout the birds and the bees I'm willing to bet that you know that I know-" Séance started.

He stopped abruptly as Pogo threw a wrench in his general direction. (That was just a bit much there. That could've hit his face! His beautiful face!)

"We're both age of consent!" he protested.

"NOT AGE OF ANTI-PARADOX!" Pogo yelled at him as he picked up what looked like a screwdriver.

Once more Séance ducked. (This actually reminded him of a withdrawl dream he had recently. Only it was an ice cream cone throwing rather large thumbtacks.)

"If the world was going to implode then I think it would've done it already," Séance said, "So calm down!"

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN THINKING OF THE MORAL IMPLICATIONS!"

"What moral implications?" frowned Séance, still trying to get out of the way of random tools.

"YOU'RE JUST DOING THIS FOR 'A WAY TO PASS THE TIME'!" Pogo said as he picked up the hammer (Shit, shit, and double shit.), "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"Lots of things. As for what you're saying maybe but not necessarily," Séance winced.

Pogo stopped in mid-throw.

"Explain."

Seeing a chance to avoid getting hit by a mechanical tool he said;

"Okay, so I…where to begin…oh!" he said, an epiphany lighting his face, "Got it. I don't want things."

"Klaus," said Pogo angrily, "You are the most selfish person that I have ever met so you can stop right there-"

"Why thank you. But let me fin-ish," interrupted Séance, "I don't want things. I get entertained by things. Drugs, ice cream, double parking, prank calls, graffiting churches, all of that sort of stuff."

(There were other more interesting crimes he could list right now. Like the fact that he had tried all of the drugs banned by international convention. God how he missed them. Still, Pogo looked offended by the tame ones. Best to just stop there.) Right now he could really use a smoke. Or a shot. Or a snort in fact. Or perhaps all of them at once. They all sounded so damn good right now. Rehab really sucked. He shook his head and continued.

"So I get bored of things rather quickly. But…I want her, okay? Not like that!" Séance said as he saw Pogo's expression, "Well, like that too. But, just in general. Everything. You know?"

He let out the breath that he had been secretly holding as Pogo put down the hammer. Pogo looked down and sighed.

"I was under the impression that you didn't care about anything but yourself," he said, "Which is hard to believe considering you're compassionate as a child."

Séance shrugged. There was a lot he could've said at the moment. However, Pogo had said that he didn't want to know what happened in the future. For some reason he was convinced in fate and all that shit. Because of that Pogo didn't know half the stuff that was going to happen.

He didn't know that Kraken would lose his eye in a year. He didn't know that in another two years Space would lose his body and Séance would start down the road to junkiehood. In five years Vanya would request to stay at her boarding school for Christmas and Rumor would start dating Patrick. He didn't know that in six years Horror would be dead. You almost had to feel sorry for him. Almost.


	11. Chapter 11

Hoa hadn't said anything to her the next morning. She hadn't said anything for the following few days in fact. Sometimes it felt like they were both treading on a rope like trapeze artists. That wasn't really important though. If she didn't want to talk about it then Xuan certainly wasn't going to bring it up. There wasn't any point to doing any of that anyway.

Only once had Hoa let Xuan know what had happened that night. Once while she was sweeping the porch Hoa had gone out to see Cam. She'd stopped and asked;

"You're going back to that place on Western avenue tonight?"

Deciding not to stop sweeping Xuan considered her possibly answers. They weren't particularly good. Very cautiously she said;

"Yes."

Hoa had leaned up against the doorway.

"Are you going to be spending the night again?"

Even more cautiously Xuan had said;

"Maybe."

There had been a long pause. Xuan had continued pushing a few bits of dirt over the ground. Finally Hoa had sighed.

"I hope you know what you're doing."

Xuan had said that she knew what she was doing perfectly well, thank you very much. At the time she'd been kind of annoyed with her grandmother. Yet, the more she thought about it the more sense it had made for Hoa to ask that question. After all, Xuan probably didn't have the faintest clue what she was doing.

This was her first time doing anything of this sort. It was just like it had been her first time illegally selling parts that had already been illegally smuggled into the city. Klaus was a lot of her firsts. Yet, that was probably the problem. She didn't know how a situation like this should be handled. The thought that she was lost and was going to screw it all up somehow tumbled around in her head. Sometimes it was like she was drowning in all of it.

It all came to a head about it all two weeks later. She put her pen down and looked over the account books. For the past eight hours she had been editing them and adding up sums. Xuan had done about three of the twelve pages. Usually this wouldn't take her so long. Her mind was on something else though.

Did she seriously know what she was doing? Did she consider the consequences of her actions? Was this smart? In truth she knew the answers to all three of the questions. No, she didn't seriously know what she was doing. No, she hadn't considered the consequences of it all. No, it probably wasn't smart, what she was doing.

Having a relationship with someone she didn't really know that much about, and in secret nonetheless was just about the stupidest thing that she could think of. Being with him did feel good though. She had never been attached to anyone like she'd been attached to him. Due to all of the changes that had been going on in their lives Hoa had never had time to work on getting Xuan married. Now she was glad that she hadn't.

Had she ever imagined she'd end up with a man like Klaus? Hell no. Relationship or no he was still a jerk. Ever since that first night she'd made three trips back. Xuan thought about the last time she had gone there. He'd greeted her with;

"You should do something to take away the 'desperate housewife' look. You look like someone's hung you out to dry."

Then she'd made a comment about how much he looked like someone had just dug him up from the ground. He'd thanked her. The comment about how his coat didn't match his shoes had reduced him to tears though. A moment later they were exchanging insults and she could hear Pogo sighing from the next room. He hadn't changed at all.

She sighed as she thought of that. So much for seeing things through rose-tinted glasses. Yet, in the end she had kissed him before she went home. If she didn't know better it looked like he was pretty sorry to see her go. It was irrational to think that he actually liked her as much as she found herself liking him.

At least she was being realistic about the whole thing though. He was a jerk and she was probably a complete moron for falling for him. Perhaps him being a jerk was just part of him, like the ginger hair or the bags under his eyes. He was a jerk now and would probably be one until the end of his days. As long as that was clear and she thought about the whole thing sensibly then it was alright though.

She thought about that as she light a cigarette. That thought was kind of ridiculous. If Xuan was being sensible then she wouldn't have done any of this. She should be concentrating on getting out of the shithole that her cousin had imprisoned her and her grandmother in. She couldn't waste time with someone who might turn out to be a waste of time himself. They had to get out of there as soon as possible.

Calmly she considered her options. Weighing them out seriously the outcome was actually pretty obvious. It probably would be the smart thing to stop seeing him. That would eliminate the problem and Hoa and her could probably go right now. Yet, she knew that she wasn't going to stop seeing him. Xuan was going to be selfish this time. Just for this once she wanted to be selfish for awhile. Perhaps Klaus was rubbing off on her. She smiled and inhaled.

"Don't smoke," Seung groused as he came in the door.

For some reason Seung didn't like women smoking. Said it was bad for them or something. He, of course, smoked about a pack a day. In fact, he was smoking one at that moment. Normally she would've shot back with something nasty and biting. Then she probably would've gotten hit for her trouble.

Not even her bastard of a cousin could ruin her good mood though. She simply nodded and put it out in an ashtray. It wasn't even half-smoked. Xuan felt Seung's surprised eyes on her back.

"Perhaps you're not so unmanageable after all," he said, "And you certainly have been happier lately."

Deciding to say nothing Xuan looked down at the account book with her impression of 'demurely'. He wouldn't be so happy if he knew why she felt that way. He had never really been happy for anyone in his whole selfish life. Right now he was just curious. Thinking about that she thought about the difference between him and Klaus. They were both selfish jerks, but somehow Klaus was different. It was like he was actually a good guy under it all. Seung wasn't.

She heard him nod in satisfaction. Xuan had to choke back a snort of laughter as he said;

"We should think about getting you married," he said thoughtfully, "I can't have you and that old bat of a grandmother hanging around here forever. It's high time you started taking things seriously."

Xuan closed her eyes. Oh, she was taking it seriously. She was taking it all very seriously.


	12. Chapter 12

"You don't say it like that," Xuan corrected.

"It sounds the same to me."

"You're supposed to say it from the back of your throat," she said as she rolled her eyes, "You're saying it like you're choking on it."

(How the hell do you say something from the back of your throat?)

"Let's stop with the language lessons for today, thank you very much," he snorted as they walked down the street.

Rolling her eyes again Xuan continued walking next to him. For fuck's sake he'd only learned some Vietnamese so she'd go out with him. Now she was trying to teach him the whole damn language. That was going just a little too far in his book. She stopped short to look at something in a window.

The only reason they were out in the first place was because the air conditioning back at Spooky's had broken down. It was unbearably hot and muggy this time of year. Things were made even worse by two things. The first was the fact that he was sweating more then a normal person was. Half of it was due to heat and the other half was probably due to the same reason that his hands were shaking. His body still wanted drugs. Go figure.

The other reason was his long black jacket. It was leather and he felt cut in a very stylish and flattering way. When he'd put it on that morning Xuan had looked at him oddly. She had pointed out that he actually didn't need to wear it. He'd looked at her, very affronted, and said;

"This outfit doesn't look good without the jacket."

So here he was, suffering for his fashion. Irritably he turned his head to see what she was looking at. It was a pawn shop. Big deal. Taking a closer look he saw the she was looking at a jewelry display in one of the windows. Good grief, jewelry! What was it with women and jewelry?

"Do women find some sort of weird need to wear random rocks around your necks?" he asked sarcastically.

Xuan gave him a brief glance.

"Probably no more then men find the need to complain."

"Touché."

"Besides," she said, "If you were actually paying attention then you would see that I'm not actually looking at the jewels so to speak."

Looking over her shoulder he noticed that she was actually looking at a blue colored flower carving on a silver chain. True to her word there wasn't a single jewel on it at all. He shrugged.

"Why look at that then?"

She paused for a minute.

"Hoa used to grow flowers like that. She always said that my mother used to like them."

"Used?"

"She died when I was born," Xuan replied.

Unlike most people he didn't say 'sorry'. (Why did people say that? It wasn't like they were the people who'd killed them? Or were they?) Instead he opted for;

"That sucks."

She gave a small and slightly bitter laugh.

"Yeah. Hoa, her mother, always said that the women in our family either live a very long time or die in childbirth. My father always said that was just superstition."

She paused again.

"He was American you know."

"Really?"

"Yes really. What's the point in lying about something like that?"

"Well what was he doing here then?" he asked, "the war couldn't have been going on back then."

"He was part of a missionary group," Xuan said, "Met my mom that way, settled down. Apparently my mother was a city girl before she married my father. All the flowers where she moved really made an impression on her. She always used to grow flowers like that, all around the house. Hoa said it was just about the only thing you could smell. They were still there when I was growing up."

"That makes it special…how?"

Xuan laughed and gave him a sock smile. (About fucking time!)

"Damn you're cheery. Like a sun or something. Bet you if someone served you up you'd taste like sun."

By this point Xuan had gotten used to all of the weird things that Séance said. So, accordingly she shrugged it off.

"Didn't your mom used to grow anything?" she asked.

Séance stuck his hands into his pockets and frowned. Thinking back on it he remembered Mom had grown flowers in a kind of weird parody of a fifties housewife. It took him a few minutes to try and recall what they were though.

"Geraniums," he said at last.

"Now when you see geraniums don't they mean something to you?" she asked.

"Not a damn thing," he shrugged, "The stupid things shed like crazy. You couldn't move for geranium petals in the house. They smelled like shit too. Nobody really liked them."

"Oh."

For another minute they stared at the window in silence. Wiping sweat off of her forehead Xuan said at last;

"You're not very sentimental you know. I can imagine you being a huge brat when you were a kid."

"Actually I was very sweet," said Séance, "My brothers, they were real terrors."

"You have brothers?" she frowned.

"A couple. Sisters too. All adopted though," he said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

"That must've been fun."

Séance cackled.

"You're obviously an only child."

"Didn't like your siblings?" she asked.

"I don't like my siblings," he corrected, "I stole socks off one of my brothers and burned the bed sheets of another. Great fun."

"You really were a brat."

"All kids are brats. I was only from 15 and up though," he argued.

She laughed and shook her head, but then she directed her glance back at the necklace in the window.

"When you buy it don't make me go in there with you," he cautioned.

"I'm not going to buy it," she said, turning around and walking away.

Following her he asked;

"Why not?"

"I thought you wanted to get out of there fast?"

"Oh I do, so very very much. But now I'm just being nosy. So why not?" he asked again.

"Can't afford it."

"'ya probably can," he said, "I should know. I buy stuff from you."

Stopping she turned around and put her hands on her hips.

"Some people have to buy necessities and think about others. Try it some time," she said, "You might be surprised."

Walking up to her he put his hands on her shoulders.

"You know you like me for it," smirked Séance.

"Actually-" started Xuan before Séance interrupted her with a kiss.

For all the fact that she was irritated at him she kissed back. He grinned inwardly. In all honesty Séance liked Xuan's lips, even if he'd never admit it to her. They were soft and oddly smooth, kind of like silk. He had no illusions about his and he was under the impression that his lips had actually cut hers on occasion. Yet, at the same time he liked it. Séance felt her lips part. He really liked it.


	13. Chapter 13

He heard the back door open, and a few words being exchanged with one of his employees. It was very definitely a woman's voice, and an unmistakenable one at that. Xuan. He put down the back-issue of Vogue and got up, smirking to himself. It had been at least a week since he'd seen her. Séance had almost begun getting worried that something might've happened.

Good thing Pogo was out. He'd just go and be annoying again. (It was like he thought they needed to be chaperoned or something. As if Pogo could stop him from doing anything.) If he wanted to hang around Xuan without a chimp looking over his shoulder, then who could blame him?

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the necklace Xuan had been looking at in the store. He turned it around in his hands a few times. It was actually kinda pretty. (If you went for that whole 'color' thing.) Blue was so her. Hearing footsteps outside the door he closed his hand around it. He'd gone through an awful lot of work to keep this a surprise and it was going to stay that way for now dammit! (Sock smile here he came.)

She walked in and he smirked. Almost immediately it was replaced with a frown. There seemed to be something kind of different about her. Something kind of harried. For one thing her hair had been incredibly sloppily braided, and it looked like her clothes hadn't been washed recently. There was also an odd sort of look on her face.

"Wow," he said, "You look like shit this morning. What's up?"

"Nothing," she said, waving her arm irritably.

Her hand stopped midway. Then very slowly she put it down and sighed.

"Actually…" she said, "There is something wrong…or right…it kind of depends on your point of view I suppose."

"Oooooooooh," he said excitedly, "This is a riddle right?"

Her brow furrowed and he smirked. (He loved riddles. Especially the one where it turns out that the guy had been eating his crewmates instead of Albatross. That was so funny!)

"Okay," Séance said, "I say that the answer is that you go up to the nearest door guard and ask-"

"No," she interrupted, "It's….it's kind of about something else. Something a bit more important."

He frowned again.

"Not a riddle?" asked Séance, disappointed.

"No," she said, "It's not a riddle…it's…it's…oh God."

She paused for a minute and rubbed her temples. Sticking his hands in his pockets he cocked his head.

"Your bastard of a cousin being a jackass again?"

('Cause if that's what it was he could fix that with a baseball bat to Seung's head. WHAM!)

"I wish," she muttered to herself.

"Huh?"

"Look," Xuan said, "there's no real…delicate way to put this. But I have to ask this first…are you serious about me?"

Séance looked at her like she had suddenly sprouted horns.

"Is this a trick question?" he asked.

"No it's not!" she snapped, "I just need to know this one thing. Are you or are you not serious about me?"

Faced with the dilemma of the century Séance just stared at her. What the hell did she want him to say to a question like that? What the hell kind of question was that anyway? He decided to counter.

"Could you clarify that a bit?"

He saw her swallow hard. In all honesty she looked like she was about to break down and cry. Séance could deal with that. (Good thing he wasn't wearing his best coat again.)

"Do you…do you love me?"

This threw him for one. No one had asked him this question. Ever. To tell the truth he'd never asked anyone this question either, he'd figured everyone was even. Until now that is.

"It…it's not a difficult question," she said softly, "Do you love me?"

It wasn't a difficult question. The fuck it wasn't! He cared about her certainly, which was a good deal more then what he did for anything else. Yet, (Here was the kicker.) could he actually love anything? Certainly he loved himself. He doubted that after all his experiences he could actually love something else though.

That wasn't a good answer. He could barely put it together in his head let alone in words. Yes and no were his only options. If he told her no then he'd lose her. That wasn't what he wanted, not at all. If he told her yes though, that would be a lie. Or it might not be. Séance really needed about three days and Pogo to help him figure it out. (Where was that damned chimp when you needed him for a change?)

He felt like he was about to throw up. No matter how many months he still wanted to do drugs. He wanted to do so many. Right now they seemed like they could help. The nausea in his stomach wasn't just from the lack of drugs though.

"I just need you to tell me," she said with something like desperation in her eyes, "Please."

He was speechless to say the very least. Where did all this come from anyway? Séance fumbled for any sort of response that wouldn't make her more upset then she already was, but at the same time something that didn't give a definitive answer. He needed a bit of time to figure this all out and she wanted an answer in mere minutes! Perhaps even seconds! (Time to play 'The Probable wrecking of your relationship!' Behind one of these doors is everything going fine and the other is complete disaster!)

Suddenly her shoulders dropped and she sighed. Apparently his silence counted as an answer. (What unfair rules!) He could see it from her expression. Still, he couldn't get any words to come out. For once he didn't actually know what to say.

"I get it," Xuan said quietly, "Hoa figured as much. But I thought that maybe…maybe you…never mind. Sorry. I…I think it's best if we just don't see each other anymore."

"What?"

"What is that I don't want to see you again," Xuan said, biting off the words, "Goodbye Klaus."

Séance just stood there as she left the room. He'd heard that people could get so damned surprised by something that they could literally go into shock. He'd thought it was a bunch of baloney until he watched Xuan walk out the door. Gaining her had been gradual, planned, and subtle. Losing her had been instantaneous and blunt.

Very quickly he went through his list of options. Séance didn't want this. Xuan was already out the door though. Wheels had been set in motion, probably before she'd even stepped foot into Spooky's. It was like some sort of crazy machine that was doing a million little destructive things a minute. If he could've stopped it then he figured he would. Yet, he couldn't.

Blankly he looked down at his hand. His fingers were curled around the necklace that he'd been planning on giving her. Only then did he notice that he'd been holding it so tightly that it had actually left a mark on his palm. Chain markings and the imprint of a flower stood pink against his pale skin. Picking up the necklace by the clasp he held it in front of his face. Séance turned it over a few times, just staring at it.


	14. Chapter 14

"I'm such a goddamn idiot!"

The day that Xuan had had her fight with Klaus she paced back and forth in her room. She could see that Hoa was watching her worriedly. Why should she be worried? She'd been the one who had warned her after all. It had been a good warning, one that she should've listened to. Now she was left in this mess with no one to blame but herself. It appeared that her personality just wasn't conducive to happiness.

If she'd been completely silly then she would probably still be fairly happy. That way she wouldn't have known what she'd done so terribly wrong for another few months. If she'd been a completely sensible person then she wouldn't have been in this predicament. She never would've gone near Spooky's or Klaus more then she had to. Yet, she wasn't either. Xuan was a mix of both and she had ended up miserable. Tiredly she sank to her knees and started to cry.

She felt arms slowly circle around her. Turning her tear-stained face upwards she saw Hoa staring at her sympathetically. Xuan turned away.

"I made this bed for myself," she muttered, "That I have to lay in it now isn't your fault. It's mine, just mine."

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is," Hoa said quietly, "You're upset. I'm sorry."

Xuan choked back a few more tears.

"It's my fault."

"It's as much his fault as yours," pointed out Hoa.

"I'm the one who's going to have to deal with it though."

"Are you dealing with it?" Hoa asked.

Bowing her head Xuan let a few tears fall from her eyes and onto Hoa's shoulder. It reminded her of the time she'd cried in Klaus's arms months ago. It seemed like she was crying an awful lot these days.

"Not really," she said as she wrapped her arms around herself, "I'm going to have to though. Soon too."

"We'll get through this. You're better off without him anyway."

Looking at the floor Xuan said;

"Yeah, I guess so…I…I just didn't want to be better off without him…"

Seeing the tears start up again Hoa hugged her a little tighter.

"You're not the first woman this has happened to," Hoa whispered, "You won't be the last either. I wish this hadn't happened to you. But what's done is done now. We just have to go on."

Sealing away the last of her tears Xuan nodded.

"It'll be okay," she said, "Just you wait and see."

There was a knock on the door. Hoa stood up and headed towards it, giving Xuan a look over her shoulder. Quickly Xuan pushed away her tears and got to her feet. She gave Hoa a curt nod. Very slowly Hoa opened the door.

"Can't anything be done on time around here?" Seung asked irritably.

"I'm sorry but my hearing isn't so well and Xuan has been feeling rather poorly lately-" Hoa said, playing the old woman card again.

"Well she'd better get over it," Seung snapped, "I can't have her getting sick right now. I can't have the two of you hanging around here forever either. Giang said he'd take you off my hands. He needs a new wife and all after the last one kicked it."

There was a very long pause. Clenching her hands into fists Xuan said very calmly;

"Could you please explain that one a bit more?"

"You never were too bright," he sighed, "He figured he'd do us a favor. You marry him and the old bat goes with you. No dowry. All in all it's a good deal. We just need to get you to the countryside as soon as possible."

All Xuan wanted to do was just sit down or perhaps go to sleep. She didn't want to have to fight anything. Yet, she knew that she would have to fight this now or never. Xuan picked now.

"Seung," she said, "We'll just go if you want us to. Really, it's no big deal."

That was true; they did have the money now to do so.

"Don't call me by my first name," he snapped at her, "And no, it's not fine. I told Giang it was done. He sent someone over. We have to do things fast you know."

Over the past few hours Xuan's world had been turned upside down and picked apart. Now there was this. Fury and frustration grew in her like a flame. She tried to keep it down, but it was impossible. Everything was falling apart. Rage at the direction her life had taken swelled within her. The flame very quickly became a roaring forest fire.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" she yelled, "WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU!? JUST LET US GO!"

The punch, when it came, hit her stomach with a harsh collision. Stumbling backwards she fell to the floor. Hoa rushed to her side and Xuan tried to take in slow breaths. It wasn't helping much. Worriedly she curved her arms protectively over her stomach.

"Fucking ungrateful bitch," he hissed, "After taking the two of you in off the streets this is what I get?"

"I have…nothing…to be grateful…for," gasped Xuan.

For a minute Xuan thought that he was going to kick her. That certainly seemed his intention but he stopped himself.

"I' m not going to deliver damaged goods to my brother," he said, "Or at least not too much anyway. Now, they're getting a ceremony together for the day after tomorrow. He already brought some female relatives to take care of you. He's probably a sight better then anyone else you're going to get with that fucking attitude. We're going to bring you there in advance, today. And no funny business. Now you can get up and walk to the van or I can call up some friends and we can drag you there."

Swallowing hard Xuan looked over at Hoa. For once she found her grandmother's face oddly inexpressive. It was passive, almost like she didn't care. Yet, Hoa knew. Hoa knew everything. She couldn't be passive on the inside. Hoa had to put up a show though. Xuan had to do that too. She couldn't risk being hit again.

"I'll walk," she said quietly.

Very slowly Hoa helped her up. Seung nodded, as if she was finally acting like she was supposed to. Xuan wasn't done though. Not by a long shot.

.

.

.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Pogo asked for the millionth time.

"No," snapped Séance.

The two of them were walking down the street, towards the junkyard where Xuan lived the day after the two of them had last met. Séance had been thinking about it. Once or twice Pogo had even asked if he'd been sick. (Yeah, he'd been sick alright. Sick of complications!) Well now he had to go and sort the mess out. If she wasn't going to come to him, and she wasn't, then he'd just go to her.

Pogo said it hadn't seemed like a good idea. It looked like it was about to rain after all. Yet, Séance knew that the more he put this off the more trouble he'd be in. God, how he needed drugs then.

"All I'm saying is that her cousin might not exactly be happy to see you after what you told me-"

"Junkyards don't normally look like that, right?" asked Séance, cocking his head.

He saw Pogo scrutinize the shop.

"They do when they're closed."

Séance frowned.

"It's a weekday though. Pogo, go find out why it's closed."

"I'm not your errand boy," snapped Pogo.

(Of course he was.)

"Ah, but you are the only one who can speak Vietnamese well. So go find out."

Pogo wanted to say something, but instead kept silent. Shrugging he walked up to an old woman that Séance assumed was a neighbor. After a few hasty inquiries he got the answer. In the meantime Séance tried to practice what he was going to say. It wasn't going well.

He was almost relieved when Pogo got back. As he walked towards him a few drops of rain started to fall on the ground.

"So what's up?"

Digging his hands into his pockets Pogo hesitated. (This wasn't going to be good.) Finally he said;

"She said that Seung closed up the shop so that he could go see his brother, Giang, get married tomorrow."

"O-kay," shrugged Séance, "We'll come back later."

Pogo paused.

"He's marrying Xuan."

More drops fell on the ground as Séance stared calmly at Pogo. Shrugging his shoulders again he started walking back in the direction of Spooky's. He could tell that Pogo was shocked, but that didn't matter. He just kept walking as the rain poured down in heavy sheets.

"Are you alright?" Pogo asked, jogging to keep up with him.

Very slowly Séance turned around.

"I was too late," he shrugged, "No big deal."

If his hands were shaking because he was angry at himself and not because of his withdrawal problems, no one would know. And if it was rain drenching his face or tears, no one would know.


	15. Chapter 15

"Okay," Xuan said, running her hands through her hair, "This…this is what we're going to do."

The last day and a half had been hell. Relatives from different sides had arrived, all congratulating her. Fucking congratulating her. Like she' d made some sort of prime catch or something. All of them were so cheerful and so horribly excited for the absolutely wonderful direction Xuan's life would be going. The atmosphere was driving her insane. With each passing hour she was feeling more and more like a trapped animal. A wolf would sound about right. It seemed that her only options were to chew her own foot off or wait for the hunters to come and end it for her. Neither choice seemed too appealing to her.

However, she did have a third choice. She could come up with a plan. Looking up she could see Hoa's disbelieving face. As time passed Xuan had come up with millions of escape plans, each one more improbable then the last. This one, this one would work though. It had to. Otherwise she would be stuck with the brother of a bastard for the rest of her life.

"Say…" said Xuan haltingly, "Say that you need something of my mother's for the wedding. Say it's…it's a tradition and that you left it at the junkyard. But while you're there…get chloroform. I'll drug him after the wedding and then we can get out of here. Yeah…that'll work."

"It sounds like a long shot," Hoa said doubtfully.

"They'll let you go back for that," said Xuan.

"Look," said Hoa reasonably, "That seems like it has several things that could go wrong. What if they send someone with me? What if they don't let me go? I don't think that it's going to work."

"It's going to work."

"Xuan, maybe there isn't a way out of this-"

"There is!" Xuan snapped, "I'm not spending the rest of my life with Seung's evil twin! Okay?! I need to try something!"

Hoa went quiet but Xuan kept pacing.

"They won't send anyone with you. They'll let you go back," she muttered, more to herself then to her grandmother, "It'll work."

The alternative was too much for Xuan to bear. She could get herself out of this though. She knew she could.

.

.

.

Xuan's plan to get Hoa back to Saigon actually worked, surprisingly enough. Giang had just sort of shrugged and made an off-handed comment about how stupid and sentimental women could be. Then he'd snickered and told her that she could probably walk back. One of the women had arranged to get her driven though. Giang really was Seung's evil twin.

Besides that it all seemed like something out of a book, or perhaps fate. After all, the whole thing had gone almost unbelievably well. The cashier wasn't even giving her a second glance when she paid for the chloroform at the counter. The world had certainly taken an odd turn if an old woman could buy a bottle of chloroform without even a curious look given to her.

Hoa contemplated how funny the world could be as she purchased the bottle of chloroform. Ever since she had been very little Xuan had seemed very intelligent. Actually, clever was probably a better word for what she was. Perhaps gifted would work too. Her plans did turn out in the end. She was probably the reason why both of them were still alive. The only truly stupid thing she had ever done was to get involved with that 'Klaus' or whoever he was.

As she walked out of the store Hoa shook her head. It had been a shame that things had turned out the way they did. What could you expect though? Typical, irresponsible man. If she'd said something then things might've been even worse. Of course, that was actually near impossible with the way things were then.

Yet, Xuan would get herself out of it. Hoa knew that she herself wasn't particularly clever but Xuan's plans generally worked out. A happy ending seemed sort of far away though.

"Hoa!"

Hoa turned around and frowned. Cam was running up to her. Well, she was actually doing the Cam version of running. It was more of a kind of gimpy trot. Her leg had some sort of infection in it. After all, Cam was going to become a great-grandmother soon. She was a tad gossipy but at the same time could be trusted to keep a secret if need be. That's what Cam had told her anyway, but Hoa hadn't yet decided to try it out.

"Oh, is the wedding over already?" Cam asked interestedly when she finally caught up.

Cam was always the first one to get news of a wedding, funeral, or birth.

"Ah…no," Hoa said, hiding the bottle behind her back, "We were just in a bit of a hurry and forgot something."

"Good thing you remembered it. It's always bad when things don't quite work out. I hope that goes well," Cam babbled, "Xuan reminds me a bit of my daughter. She looked so lovely when she got married."

For awhile Hoa listened to Cam's chatter. Cam could talk to no end about absolutely nothing. After awhile it all just turned into a string of soothing mutterings that were indistinguishable from each other. However, Hoa knew that she would have to get back soon. Xuan was waiting on her. She was just looking for the right pause in Cam's conversation. It wasn't coming anytime soon.

"Oh, by the way," Cam said, "There was this monkey and this very pale man wondering why the store was closed. Are they friends of yours?"

For a minute Hoa was speechless. She hadn't figured that he'd come asking about Xuan. She'd just gotten the feeling that he didn't give a damn. Of course, it could've been another man and another monkey. Then again, how many monkies did they know? Carefully she asked;

"What did you tell them?"

"I just told them that Xuan was getting married," she said, "They did look a bit odd when I said that to tell the truth. Who are they?"

She took a minute to appraise Cam's look. It clearly said that she was incredibly interested in what she took to be an juicy bit of gossip. Knowing that she would have to quench Cam's appetite for news she said;

"Business associates I think. Friends of Seung. I can't believe that they didn't know that the store was closed. I do need to hurry along though. Wedding preparations and all of that."

"Oh yes, oh yes," said Cam absently, not interested if it wasn't scandalous, "I need to be getting on myself."

As soon as Cam wandered around the corner Hoa hurried off in the direction of Western avenue. She had never been one for plans or plotting. Hoa had an idea now though. She hoped it would work. Normally she wouldn't have dared to do something like this. Yet, the idea of making Xuan happy or at least comfortable was making her brave. Maybe, just maybe, things would turn out all right.


	16. Chapter 16

"Ummmm, what?"

Pogo looked at Séance's usually unemotional face. Now it was completely shocked. Séance looked like someone had dumped cold water over his head and then smacked him in the face with a cudgel. Pogo couldn't blame him. He was a little shocked himself.

"_You heard me_," Hoa said coldly in Vietnamese, "_That's what's happening. Now if you could help in any way, more specifically a car or a hiding place once we get out, that would be appreciated_."

Looking from Hoa to Séance Pogo translated and waited for Séance's response.

"She said she didn't want to see me again," Séance said as he shoved his hands into his pockets, "I think that still applies."

Pogo translated that back.

"_The situation has changed_."

This was probably the most awkward conversation Pogo had ever been involved in, acting as a go-between for these two.

"I doubt that her feelings have," Séance said irritably, "Like I told you, she said she didn't want to see me again."

Once Pogo finished translating that to Hoa there was silence. Pogo looked from Séance to Hoa a few times. A sharp intake of breath was heard and she pursed her lips. Then Hoa let loose.

"_OF COURSE SHE WOULDN'T WANT TO IF YOU TOLD HER YOU WEREN'T SERIOUS_!" Hoa shouted, "_THAT'S JUST COMMON SENSE! BUT RIGHT NOW SHE NEEDS YOU AND YOU OBVIOUSLY CARE SOMEWHAT, SO GET OUT THERE NOW_!"

Both Pogo and Séance took two steps backwards. Séance might not be able to recognize the words, but he sure as hell recognized the tone. He did a full on shrug when Pogo translated.

"I, uh, she doesn't, if she doesn't care then, then uh, why would my caring count?" Séance stammered helplessly.

Wincing Pogo translated to Séance.

"_OF COURSE SHE CARES YOU IDIOT! SHE CARES A LOT! MAYBE SHE EVEN LOVES YOU, GOD KNOWS WHY THOUGH! IT'S ONLY YOU NOT CARING THAT CHANGES ANYTHING_!"

Pogo translated back in an undertone. He saw Séance's face perk up.

"Re-ally?" he asked, interested.

"_YES_!"

"Ooooooooh! Finally, a word I know! Anyway, let's get to it," smirked Séance as he headed towards the phone.

Hoa followed him, watching his movements through narrowed eyes. Pogo sighed and followed Séance to the phone, wondering what kind of mess he was going to get himself into this time. He finished dialing and waited for the person on the other end to pick up.

"_So are you going to help_?" Hoa asked bitingly.

Tiredly Pogo translated. Séance turned around with a completely insane grin. Pogo's heart sank. That look only meant trouble.

"Help? That's for amateurs. I'm getting something much, much better," he laughed maniacally.

The warning signals went off in Pogo's brain.

"No," he said firmly, "Klaus, you are not doing this."

"Doing what?" asked Séance innocently.

"You know what I mean," snapped Pogo.

"_What's going on_?" Hoa asked sharply.

"_He's doing something stupid_," translated Pogo before saying in English, "This is a stupid idea."

"It's not stupid."

"Yes it is. Of all the dumb things you have done this would take the cake. I absolutely forbid you to do this. I forbid you from involving him in something like this!"

"Ah, go soak your head space-monkey," said Séance as he brushed Pogo off.

The person on the other end of the phone picked up. Séance grinned and Pogo groaned helplessly.

.

.

.

Xuan looked at herself in the mirror dumbly. Giang's family had provided the traditional wedding outfit. Just like the ninnies that they all were they'd all fawned over how damned pretty she was in it. Under any other circumstances she might've liked the compliment. Now she just wanted to burn the whole outfit, hat and all.

Red wasn't her color. This was something that she believed very adamantly. The whole outfit was red. It was traditional after all. She looked in the mirror and found a very harried woman looking back at her. The woman didn't even look like her. She wasn't even wearing what she should be wearing. She was wearing a red tunic with gold patterns over white pants with a white overcoat. The red hat, like the tunic, was slightly too small for her and it was hurting.

Hoa wasn't back yet. That worried her. She needed someone to help her through this. She needed someone to help her with things after the ceremony and someone to tell her that she was going to be okay after it. Xuan took a deep breath. Hoa wasn't here though. She was going to have to do all of this by herself.

She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Part of her cringed on the inside as she thought about the way her life had turned out. As much as she hated to admit it, she had loved Klaus. It was demented that she did, but she did. Xuan didn't want to be marrying Giang. Why did it have to end up like this? Bile started to raise in her throat from rage, confusion, and sadness.

"We're all ready for you!" one of Giang's female relatives sang.

"I hate my life," she murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"All right."

Due to the fact that she didn't have a family they were going to skip the first part of the traditional marriage ceremony. The less time it lasted the better though. All she wanted was to get the whole thing over with. She wasn't even sure if she would be able to get through the ceremony without barfing or bolting. Xuan breathed in deeply again.

Outside she heard something like a very small explosion. She frowned. That wasn't part of the ceremony. Soon after she heard what she thought was a chopper. Abandoning the mirror she flung open the door to her room and headed out into the hallway. Now she could hear screams mixing in with all of the other noise. What the hell was going on? Opening the front door she looked out onto a scene of chaos.

People were running everywhere and going for cover. A building on the far side of the complex had been blown up. There actually was a helicopter. She knew that Giang and Seung were in with smugglers up to the eyeballs. That was why they were going to get guns at that moment. Things were about to get hairy. Maybe she could use that to escape.

Turf wars were rare though. Generally took place in cities and allies where they'd bribed most of the authorities. It rarely ever went home. She frowned again as she thought about that. Something was up. In any case, she needed to take cover. Her red outfit wasn't exactly making her very inconspicuous.

Getting down behind a nearby table Xuan continued to assess the scene. She saw the helicopter land on the far side of the encampment. Two people jumped out. One was wearing the gear of American . She couldn't believe that Giang and Seung had gone so far to get the military involved though. The other one…well…she had absolutely no idea who the other one was though. Who the hell could he be with an outfit like that? The jacket and shirt were sloppy, completely unprofessional, dirty, and….and…good god.

"Hey you!" Klaus said as he threaded his way through running people, "How's it going?"

He stopped about a foot away from her and smirked. Xuan just stared at him for a minute. Then she reared back her hand and punched him in the face.

"Ow!"

"What the hell are you doing here?" she snapped, crossing her arms.

Regaining his balance Klaus went down and picked up the sunglasses that she had knocked off his face. Putting them in his pocket he rubbed his cheek with his hand and pouted. Finally he got something kind of like seriousness in his eyes before saying;

"I thought that getting a helicopter and crashing your wedding proves I love you. If it doesn't then could you at least tell me what does? 'Cause I'm all out of ideas right now."

He gave something between a smirk and a smile. It started to slip a bit when she didn't respond. After awhile he looked down and scratched the back of his neck. Klaus was actually shocked that she wasn't saying anything. What was she supposed to say to that though? It wasn't something that you just shrugged off. Xuan sighed as she tried to figure out what to say.

Well, at least she had an idea. It probably wasn't the best response, but it would certainly get her point across.

"Not to mention I think I managed to make enemies of half the smuggling underground in Vietnam by pulling this-" he started sulkily.

Closing the space between them she threw her arms around his neck. He looked at her like he'd never seen her before, but was pleasantly surprised. She laughed before she crushed her lips to his.


	17. Chapter 17

Air. It was a terrible thing when you came down to it. What was it good for? Absolutely nothing, that's what. In many cases air was actually his enemy. It always smelt bad or was too sticky. Yet, for some unfathomable reason, his body wanted it. So he had to pull away from Xuan to get some.

"That's what I call a good welcome there," Séance grinned after awhile, "Well, without the punch anyway. That wasn't so good."

"You've got a jaw of iron there," said Xuan, rolling her eyes, "I hurt myself more then you probably."

(That was probably true. Everyone had always said that he had a really really thick skull.) There was gunfire in the background and Xuan looked at him questioningly. He shrugged before saying;

"I think I got a bruise from that you know."

"Angry girls tend to have good right hooks," she said, "But you're bruising? Need me to kiss it better?"

"Yeah…you know, I think you hit me on my lips…"

She rolled her eyes but pulled him closer and kissed him again. It was like kissing silk. Like kissing really soft, sun-flavored silk. He could feel her hands moving slowly down his back. Could this get any better? His question was answered when Xuan's mouth parted and her tongue slipped between his lips. Séance wrapped his arms around her waist and crushed her to him as the kiss went European. (God bless France!)

Who needed drugs? This, this was better. No side-effects, except perhaps the incredible urge to have more. This was a shame, because he couldn't have more. Séance knew that they would both be running out of air relatively soon. (It really was his enemy.) There would be more time for this later though. Still, a few more seconds of this would be really, really good-

"What the fuck Klaus?!"

Damn. Irritably he broke away and glared at the person addressing him.

"A little busy here!"

The man glared back and pointed a threatening and accusatory finger at him.

"First of all," the man snarled, "I'd say that I'm the one doing all the work here."

"Then you got 'em all?"

"Tied them up," snorted the man, "But don't change the subject. I can't believe this. Even when I come over here to ask you what's going on I find you making out with some girl! You told me that they'd stolen televator plans! They don't even know what a televator is!"

"Okay," Séance shrugged, "So I lied. Big deal."

"Of course!" the man shouted, sounding completely exasperated, "So what the fuck is really going on here!?"

Séance looked back to Xuan, who had raised her eyebrows. Putting an arm around her shoulders he gave the man a long stare.

"What?" the man said as he looked at Xuan with an odd mix of confusion and shock, "But I thought…we all kind of figured-"

"You figured what?" asked Séance as he raised his eyebrows.

"We figured you drove your car on the other side of the road!"

"Ridiculous. I'm not British."

"No, this is ridiculous," sighed the man.

Séance noticed that Xuan was staring at him.

"Excuse my manners. Diego, meet Xuan. Xuan, meet my brother."

Kraken threw his hands in the air as Xuan gave him a quick once over.

"Are you the brother whose socks he stole or the one whose bed sheets he burned?" she asked.

Kraken's eyes widened.

"That was YOU?!"

"Ahem, Xuan, you're going to be the death of me," snickered Séance uneasily.

"I BLAMED SPACE FOR THAT!"

"In any case, I think we should split right now," Séance said hurriedly.

Scratching his head Kraken cocked his head at Xuan, looking her over once more. Then his eyebrow furrowed, before his eyes managed to get even louder. Séance noticed that she placed her hands on her hips after miming a 'zip it' motion. (Whatever that meant.) Kraken stared at her for a minute longer before saying;

"Fuck this shit. Let's get moving."

"Don't mind him," Séance said, "You know how it is."

"Not really," Xuan shrugged as Séance started to pull her towards the chopper, "But I've learned that with you I just need to go with it some times. Where's Hoa? I can only assume she was the one who told you."

"Yeah. That woman has one hell of a screech," whistled Séance.

There was some noise in the background. Séance frowned.

"I thought you said you tied them up?" he said to Kraken.

"I thought I did."

"Làm thế nào dám bạn?!"

Whenever Séance's oh-so-important life was in danger everything tended to slow down very suddenly and rather like a bad kung-fu movie. In an odd way it made sense. He saw the guy get up and start firing the gun. He could kind of hear Kraken swear, but it was overshadowed by the guy firing the machine gun.

It lasted about twenty-five seconds. That was about one hundred and fifty bullets. It would take those bullets precisely ten more seconds for the first bullet to reach them. Perhaps they would miss. Perhaps they wouldn't. Either way it took him a total of eight seconds to forma telekinesis shield against it all.

They all hung in the air at his hand's beckon. He heard Kraken mutter something odd, and he saw the man's startled and completely shocked expression. It mirrored Xuan's expression. He gave a half shrug before saying;

"Just call me Neo, huh?"

Her expression didn't change. Séance had forgotten that she didn't know what _The Matrix_ was. Well, unlike that movie he threw the bullets back in the guy's face. There was a few thuds and he turned back to look at Xuan's oddly bland expression now.

"You alright?" he asked cautiously.

She took a very long blink.

"Today has been rather emotional," she said at length, "and oddly shaking. So don't get mad when I say that I would like you to catch me when I pass out."

Séance barely had time to frown before he had to catch her. Just one more problem to deal with.


	18. Chapter 18

"- so that's what's going on. In a nutshell."

Xuan nodded, not one hundred percent sure she understood it all. She let him help her out of the copter and go back towards Spooky's. Diego had snorted at her goodbye and muttered something about time wasters and stupid complications. He took off rather quickly after that. Looks like Klaus wasn't the only odd one in his family.

Rubbing her temples she went in. Pogo nodded towards them and informed them that Hoa had fallen asleep. Best not to wake her. She probably hadn't had much sleep in the past few days after all. Xuan wasn't sure if she wasn't going to get much sleep soon either. Hearing that your boyfriend was a time-travelling medium superhero who was going to try and stop the President of the United states from getting assassinated in a little under two years was a little shaking. Just a little.

Climbing the steps slowly she said;

"So in two years or so you're going and you're not going to come back," she said with an odd tone.

"Paradoxes and all that," he said as they stopped at the top of the staircase, "Once I set foot in the future I don't get to go back. Pogo tried to explain it to me, but I was kind of hung over so I didn't get all of it. It's complicated and incredibly screwed up if you ask me."

She thought he was going to make a stupid joke and then start cackling. That would've been like him. It wasn't like he'd pick up the tone anyway. Oddly enough he put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in.

"I think I might come back though," he murmured, his lips very close to her ear, "I'm certainly going to try anyway."

She turned around so she could face him.

"You'd better."

"Ooooooooooh. Is that a threat?" he said as he backed her into the wall.

"You bet," she smiled, "There's something I have to tell you."

"And that is?" he asked as he started to lay kisses along her jaw line.

Xuan paused. It was probably something she should tell him. Yet, he was getting close to her lips and she had missed him...

"Later," she murmured.

.

.

.

"You awake?" Séance yawned as he propped himself up.

It was a couple of hours later and Séance had just decided to end his 'dozing'. Generally he woke up a lot earlier then this. (It was only three a.m after all. Very late in the day.) He contemplated turning on a light, but they might as well save on power. Besides, he liked the dark. He always had the oddest urge to hiss whenever anyone turned on a light.

Xuan was looking out the window in a short blue nightgown. Her long hair had stayed loose and tumbled down her back like a cascade of darkness. Her back was turned to him, so he got a good view. (He'd said it once, he'd say it a thousand times, blue was her color. Right now she could've made a great _Victoria's Secret _model. Best not mention it though.) He couldn't see her expression though. Even so she seemed kind of tense. She tugged on a few handfuls of her head a few times before saying;

"Obviously."

Séance swung his legs over the bed and got up behind her.

"It's not a very good view," he said, "Maybe I should put Christmas lights in the alley. Make it look prettier, you know."

"Yeah," she said absently, "I guess."

He frowned. Wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder he said;

"Something eatin' you?"

She gave a very long sigh.

"Not exactly."

Oh dear. This was how she talked before she went off on him a few days ago. Well, he wasn't going to let that happen again.

"Just tell me. None of that vague shit," Séance said.

She didn't look like she was going to start pouring out information. (Women and their little 'secrets.')

"Oh please?" he sang, "Pretty please with sugar on top?"

He heard her chuckle. If the light were on he might've seen a sock smile. However, he wasn't quite sure 'cause she still felt as tense as hell.

"I'm not sure how to say this…" murmured Xuan.

Rolling his eyes he let go of her waist and searched around for his coat. She turned around and stared at him as he rummaged through the pockets.

"I'll let you in on my secret if you let me in on yours. 'kay?"

Xuan continued to stare at him incredulously.

"Found it!" he announced as he walked over, something clenched in his fist.

Resuming his position behind her he said;

"Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Obediently she did so. First he pushed back her hair. (Couldn't have it getting tangled. Might cause split ends.) He snapped the necklace he had bought for her over a week ago over her neck. The pendant slipped down and rested neatly in the hollow of her throat. Satisfied he wrapped his arms back around her waist. Kissing her neck he whispered;

"Open up."

She opened her eyes to look at it and he grinned.

"Thought you hated jewelry," she said, looking like she was about to cry.

(Shit. He hadn't meant for her to cry, dammit! Women.)

"Yeah, well, uh…" he stammered.

"Wrong type of tears," she said.

For a moment she didn't say anything else and he wondered if the necklace had made any difference at all. Finally she said;

"When I came in on Monday I needed to know that you were serious. I needed to know that you loved me. I needed to know that you would stay with me."

"Whoa," he said, "I **am **going to stay with you."

"I know that-"

"After all," he continued, ignoring her, "It appears that the minute I leave you some bastard tries to marry you. Fuck that. No one else gets you. Mine, mine, mine. M-i-n-e."

He saw her suppress a laugh, so he knew that he couldn't be in too much trouble.

"I know," she said, "I know. But I didn't know then. I wasn't being stupid or girly. I swear I needed to know both of those things for a very good reason."

Séance raised his eyebrows.

"Why's that then?"

Xuan turned and gave him a long look. He felt slightly uncomfortable.

"Your brother figured it out just by looking at me," she said, "Can't you?"

"Hey," he answered defensively, "My brother's a knife-wielding maniac. I'm just a rehab-psychic."

"Which means?"

"A knife-wielding maniac is a step up in our family," explained Séance, "He can figure things out before me. So no, I don't know. What's this big secret then?"

Placing her hands under his she pushed them up so that they rested on her stomach. Xuan then twisted around so that she could look him in the face. Swallowing once she said,

"I'm pregnant."

At this point Séance figured that his brain stopped functioning. That was the only answer for what happened. His brain must've just plain out shut down.

"Sor…sorry," stammered Séance, "I…uh…I must not have heard you right. What did you say?"

"I'm pregnant," Xuan repeated.

"Ghrk," managed Séance.

Had the world gone completely mad? He felt like asking if she was sure, but she probably wouldn't have told him if she wasn't. Now she was looking at him like she was expecting an answer. Once more he wanted three days and Pogo to figure out the best answer for this. Once more he had only seconds. The situation wasn't going to get away from him again though. At last he said;

"Thanks."

Now she was really confused.

"What?"

"We-ll," he said speculatively, "Kids. Hmm. Added bonus. I get a little me, or a little you. Depends I guess."

"What?"

"Obviously it's unexpected, but as they say it beats a sharp stick in the eye. Where do you think we'll keep it? 'Cause we can't keep it downstairs and I don't think it should be in here with us."

"What?"

"I wonder if it'll get your eyes are mine. Because my eyes are shit and yours are okay so it might be better if-"

"WHAT?"

He gave her a cocky smile.

"Kids are kind of unavoidable if I plan on staying with you, isn't it?" he said, "You're going to have to teach it how to behave in public and stuff because I'll probably just muck it up though. But kids are gonna be great. So thanks. Any other thoughts?"

She stared at him dumbly.

"I thought you didn't like kids."

"Those are other kids," he sniffed, "This is **our** kid."

Xuan stared at him for another few seconds before her face relaxed.

"You don't make sense, do you?"

"Nope," said Séance proudly, "But you love me anyway."

"Yeah," she said before kissing him again, "I do."


	19. Chapter 19

September 22, 1961

"Cho hai bạn nên lấy vợ," Hoa said.

Xuan and Séance had been in the living room at the time. It had been about a month since he'd stolen her from her relatives. Recently though Seung's ring of smugglers had been trying to get revenge for what they said was a gross intrusion into their private matters. Also, because Kraken had been stupid enough to wear his uniform there, they figured it was somehow linked to the military. Now there was an all out war going on. Kraken maintained that he didn't need Séance's help with it though. (Not like he'd offer it anyway.)

So he'd just been giving her the latest when a determined looking Hoa and Pogo had come down the hall. When she'd first said it the words hadn't quite sunk into his brain. After all, he wasn't completely fluent in the language and she wasn't picking up English fast. So all in all it took him a minute to figure it out. The look on Xuan's face indicated that it would probably complicate things by a mile though.

"Could you repeat that please?" he asked.

"C-h-o h-a-i b-ạ-n n-ê-n l-ấ-y v-ợ," Hoa said slowly, as if speaking to a child.

"Klaus," Xuan said, looking slightly worried, "What she's saying is-"

"No no!" insisted Séance, "I can totally get this. Let's see here…cho hai…the two… bạn nên…of you should…the two of you should…"

His voice trailed off as he figured out what the final words meant

"The two of you should get married?" he said in disgust, "Where the fuck did that come from?!"

Where **did **it come from? (Weddings. They included churches! Those things scared the shit out of him!) There was a slight pause as Pogo translated it back to Hoa.

"Không quan trọng," Hoa said, "bạn nên."

"She says it doesn't matter," Xuan said, "She says we should."

"I could've gotten that," Séance said indignantly.

(People always assumed he couldn't do things. So what if it took him fifteen minutes longer then anyone else?)

"She's right you know," Pogo agreed.

Séance felt like he'd taken a sledgehammer to the face. He hadn't felt like that since he'd stopped taking speed. Covertly he saw Xuan looked at Pogo and Hoa's expressions. She got it too. They had obviously discussed it between themselves already. It shouldn't have surprised him. Both of them had a this weird sense of morals that were as unflinching as an elephant.

"So the guy who is sooooooo worried about paradoxes wants me to marry a girl from the past?" asked Séance scathingly.

"She's already carrying your child," Pogo said flatly, "As you once said, 'If the world was going to implode then I think it would've done it already.'"

"Don't you quote back at me!"

"Perhaps we're going about this the wrong way," Hoa said, turning to Xuan, "Xuan, do you want him to marry you?"

There had been a really long pause. She looked between the closest thing they had to parents and back at Séance. To tell the truth he was pretty damned curious about what she was going to answer. He heard her sigh softly.

"Honestly," she said tentatively, "I already know that he's going to stay with me. That…that's enough for me."

Séance let out a triumphant yell. (Take that interfering old people!) His triumph was short lived when Pogo shook his head and Hoa folded her arms.

"Vì vậy, bạn hoàn toàn tốt đẹp với con em mình được sinh ra con tư sinh?" she asked sharply.

Xuan turned pale and looked down. Her lips moved, but nothing came out. She looked down at her stomach.

"O-kay," Séance said, "That was waaaaaay too fast for me."

"She asked if Xuan was alright with her child being born illegitimate," Pogo said, rolling his eyes.

Frowning Séance turned and looked at her. Nervously she tugged at her braid and tried to avoid Hoa's eyes. Very slowly she wrapped her arms around her stomach and closed her eyes. Séance turned back to Hoa, who nodded as though her words had had the desired effect. Séance turned back to her.

Right now she wasn't showing. In a few months though, when she had her child, it would be illegitimate. He didn't see what the big deal was. He'd been illegitimate after all. He'd never known his biological mother. Séance had turned out fine though so…wait…no he hadn't. So his big argument was a moot point. (Shit. Life spits on him again.)

Then again, what was the big deal? You go, you say some words. He'd already said that he planned on staying with her…so maybe it **wasn't **a big deal.

"…marry me?" he asked

"What?" she said incredulously, her eyes flying open.

"It's a yes or no question," he said.

(He was being very accommodating lately. He'd have to make sure that it didn't become a habit.)

"If you want me too, then I will and I won't complain about it," he continued, "I already said that I was going to stay with you so if you want me to then I **will **marry you. Alright?"

"Then…" she sputtered, "What was with the big resistance show there?"

"She'll want me to do it in a church," Klaus said, pointing an accusing finger at Hoa, "And my one condition to this is that we** CANNOT DO IT IN A CHURCH**."

Hoa scrunched up her eyebrows and nudged Pogo. Translating back she frowned and asked;

"Và tại sao lại không?"

"And why not?" repeated Pogo in English.

"Look," said Klaus impatiently, "We all know that if I go into a church then I'll burst into flames."

Once more it was translated back. Hoa narrowed her eyes.

"Bạn đang thực hiện một ánh sáng về tình hình."

"You're making light of the situation," Pogo repeated.

As soon as he said that he turned back and started discussing something in an undertone with Hoa. She said a few more words in return and Pogo nodded.

"Whatcha sayin' there?" Séance asked suspiciously.

"I was telling her that it's probably true," Pogo admitted, "We'll have to designate another place and get the priest to come here. Is there anyone you know that would be accommodating to this? Then she said that it would be Cam, whoever that is, as long as she can hear the back story. She can be discreet when she needs to be apparently."

"So that's settled," Séance said, turning back to her, "What do you want?"

Xuan shook her head and laughed.

"If I live for a million years then I'll never figure you out."

She looked up at him and gave brilliant sock smile.

"But the answer's yes."

He grinned back.


	20. Chapter 20

September 29, 1961

The ceremony actually had ended up taking place at Cam's house. Not many people were going to be there, just Pogo, Hoa, Cam, Diego, and the couple. Apparently Klaus had dragged his brother there under the pretense that it was another emergency. Being fooled again didn't seem to be something that Diego was particularly enjoying. He made sure that Klaus knew this as they walked up to Cam's house the day of.

"Have you ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?" he growled.

"Oh yeah," Klaus said, "Boy gets some kicks then gets devoured by messily by a wolf. Hilarious stuff."

"Next time you say it's an emergency I'm just going to come and find you just so I can shove the transmitter down your throat."

"That's not nice. I need you to be best man here."

"Why can't you just get Pogo to do it?" Diego snarled, "I have more important stuff to get on with."

Klaus frowned and looked back at Pogo. Then he turned to Diego and smirked.

"If I did that then I wouldn't be able to have your bright cheery face here now would I?" he said, "Besides, my other candidate has been in the jungle for a couple of weeks now with absolutely no radio contact."

"Space has been missing for a year," snapped Diego.

"Re-ally? Time does fly."

"Just hurry up and get this over with."

Reluctant guests weren't something that Xuan felt like she needed to be dealing with that morning. It appeared that her morning sickness was taking a turn for the more intense. What could she expect when the child's father was someone like Klaus though? Still, it was a lingering morning sickness. So besides feeling nauseous she had to deal with the family circus. She'd figured that at least things couldn't get any worse. She'd realized that she was quite wrong only minutes later.

Once they'd gotten inside Xuan had been a little surprised that;

Hoa had been willing to explain **everything **to Cam, only emitting the bit about Klaus and Diego having superpowers, and;

The fact that all Cam had done was nod and wink at Xuan when she saw her.

Xuan had been bracing herself for something just a tad more embarrassing. Of course, it had been made more embarrassing when Klaus had come up from behind her and winked back at her.

"We think its due in May," he volunteered in broken Vietnamese.

Cam had raised an eyebrow but had nodded just the same. He then tried to loop an arm around Xuan's shoulders, which she shoved off from irritation. Klaus then lost his balance and knocked over a coat rack. This in turn had knocked over Diego. The swear words and scraps of conversation that followed were rather interesting.

"Jelly-bean fritter doughnut!"

"FUCK!"

"Hey, watch the language!"

"Why the hell should I?" snarled Diego as he attempted to free himself from the coat rack.

"Minors present!" Klaus said, starting to get to his feet.

"Unborn minors!"

"Hey, they're still minors. Besides, I heard they pick stuff up before they were born," Klaus seethed as he fell down again, "Might account for your filthy temper. But so help me if the first word my kid says is fuck then you are in **big **trouble!"

"You talk worse!"

"Yeah, but Xuan'd kill me if that's its first word!"

If Cam and Hoa didn't understand one hundred percent of the words that were being spoken, they definitely recognized the tone. The two women had exchanged a knowing look. Sighing Xuan glanced over at Pogo, who had buried his head in his hands. Xuan felt like following suit, only perhaps after locking herself inside a closet. All in all it was an excellent way to start her wedding day, if she did say so herself.

Her irritation and complete embarrassment might've stayed with her the whole day if what happened next hadn't occurred. Clambering to his feet and giving Diego a rather pouty look Klaus had instructed her to go upstairs. She'd considered saying no, but then she'd noticed that Hoa had actually nodded in agreement. So she'd relented and gone to the first room upstairs.

When the door opened all Xuan could do was gape. The dress that she'd worn nearly a year ago when she was Klaus's translator had been laid out on the bed. All of the mud stains had been carefully removed from the blue silk so that it looked practically new. She'd planned on getting married in her normal clothes, plus the blue flower necklace. Now she had this instead. She turned to Klaus who was smirking in the doorway.

"Thought blue would be nice 'cause you look good in it and white wouldn't be exactly honest. I know it was in kind of a bad shape but being psychic helps remove stains-" he'd started before she'd hugged him.

"Nice save," she whispered in his ear.

"Figured I'd mess something up on the day," he snickered, "But I didn't expect a hug. I thought this would warrant a kiss at least."

Rolling her eyes Xuan laid a light kiss on his still chapped lips. He pouted when she pulled away.

"Something a bit…better if you will?"

Once more she rolled her eyes and disengaged herself to walk over to the dress.

"Later," she said, "Now I have to get into this before the priest comes."

"Okay."

There were no footsteps. This time Xuan didn't roll her eyes. If she did then that would be three eye rolls in five minutes and she'd have a massive headache. Sometimes she wondered why she didn't just have them on loop.

"Do you mind?" she asked, turning around.

"Hey," he protested, "Nothing I haven't seen before."

"Later."

"Fine, fine," he muttered to himself before closing the door.

"But thanks!" she called after him.

She heard him snicker once more before shutting the door.

.

.

.

The ceremony itself had been quite simple. There was just the priest and the few guests who were there by necessity, or in Diego's cause, trickery. It was a condensed service too, so it only actually took about twenty minutes. That was enough for Xuan though. After all, the service was enough to turn Xuan Mai into Xuan Hargreeves.


	21. Chapter 21

May 5, 1961

"Boy are you getting **fat**."

Xuan looked up from the book she was reading to glare at him. She laid one of her hands almost defensively over her swollen stomach. While the statement was true he really had no right to say that.

"You try keeping up your skinny-boy physique when you've nearly carried a child to term," she retorted.

"I think I'm slim, not skinny. And small chance I'llget pregnant," he said, sliding into the seat on the couch next to her, "That could be really weird."

Sighing Xuan continued reading. Very faintly she felt Klaus start to pull her hair. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, just hard enough to be irritating. After a few seconds she turned around and asked;

"Don't you need to be helping Pogo or something?"

"He's taking a break," Klaus answered, "And before you say it, my bro' says he still doesn't need my help breaking up Seung's stupid little smuggling ring. I think he's still bitter about getting tricked into coming to the wedding."

"How about Hoa then?"

"Out getting food or some shit like that," he said, "You know Xuan, you are trying awfully hard to get rid of little old me. Why, it's almost like you don't want to see me."

"Not when I'm reading."

"You can read any time though," pouted Klaus, "You can't talk to your husband anytime you want though."

"Yes, I can. It's getting you to shut up that's the trick."

"Awwwwwww!" he whined, "Now you're being unfair."

She sighed and put the book down. It was going to be impossible to get any reading done now. One of the things she'd learned was that if he started to talk like that he was going to stay where he was for a loooong time.

"That's better," he grinned as he moved his arm around her shoulder, "Now that we've gotten rid of the stupid literary world, how are you doing today?"

"You were there when I had morning sickness a few hours ago," she said, raising her eyebrows.

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were. You asked me why I'd had to eat so many carrots."

"Ahhhhhhh. I remember."

"So," she said, "I think you know how I'm doing."

"That was this morning."

"Well, I'm still nauseous."

He looked at her with something almost like concern.

"You need some water or something?"

"Nah," she laughed, "Besides, water just helps people throw up. You knew that right?"

"Hell yeah," he said, looking offended, "I just wanted to know if you thought that would help. After all, I have had to throw things up pretty damn quickly in the past. So yeah, I know how to handle shit like that."

Xuan was tempted to ask what sort of situations. In the end, like most things with Klaus, she didn't. Suddenly she winced.

"You okay?" he asked.

"It's nothing," she said, gritting her teeth a little, "The kid's just kicking again."

Klaus frowned and moved his free arm over so that he could rest his hand on top of her stomach.

"Quiet down you little bugger," he admonished casually.

Xuan fought to repress laughter. His frown deepened as he said;

"Seriously though. Don't make me come in there."

That was a bit too much. An odd sort of laugh escaped from her lips. He grinned.

"Halfway along and the doctors say that there won't be any trouble," she laughed, "but this one's a kicker."

"You trust doctors?"

"Don't you?"

"The one doctor I was acquainted with," he said, "Made a machine that ate people so that he could feed a disease that should've been eating him from the inside out. He was polishing off Finland when we got him. Managed to eat one of my sister's arms too. So no, I don't really trust doctors."

There really wasn't anything that she could say to that. Instead she decided to change the subject.

"I've been thinking about names recently and I think we should name it after Hoa if it's a girl," she said.

"So she can grow up to be an intimidating screechy matron?"

"What name do you have in mind then?" she snapped.

"How 'bout yours?" he asked, "It's puh-retty, don't you think? And it means like, spring or something, and it'll be born in spring so-"

"It's due in July," interrupted Xuan.

"Close enough."

Rolling her eyes Xuan continued;

"And I was thinking that we should name it after you if it's a boy."

"Say what?" Klaus said, shocked.

"It appears that I can't pick a name you like," she said as she let out a frustrated sigh, "I like the name Klaus."

"I don't," said Klaus firmly, "Like I said, Klaus means that some fancy-pants father tried to make his son sound smart. It's pretentious."

"I think it sounds nice," she said, "I kind of like the idea of naming him after his father anyway."

"I don't though," he said.

"You just said if it was a girl we should name it after me," she argued.

"That's different. Your name is puh-retty and mine's stupid," he said as he moved the hand on her stomach up and down, "I'm looking out for you in there, little guy. There's no chance you're getting stuck with my stupid name. None, zip, zero, nada."

She gave him a long stare before she smiled mischievously.

"We'll see."

"No we won-" he paused and sniffed the air.

"What's wrong?" she frowned.

He turned to look at her.

"Do you smell something kind of rancid, 'ya know, like burning, or is it just my imagina-?"

The explosion blocked out the rest of his sentence. Xuan's eyes closed instinctively, for all the good it would do her. Strangely enough she didn't feel anything hit her. Opening her eyes she looked up to see Klaus with his hand outstretched, stopping the debris. Slowly he let it fall.

Turning her head she looked around the room. The place wasn't destroyed, just slightly singed. Looking back at Klaus, who still had his back turned towards hers, she suggested;

"Seung?"

"Probably," he said, his voice low.

Turning back to her he said, hands on hips;

"I hope you know, this means **war**."


	22. Chapter 22

July 4, 1962

Beep. Beep.

"We need more blood!" one of the orderlies shouted.

"Does she take AB positive or negative?" another said, completely panicked.

The steady Beep Beep of her heart machines were grating on her nerves. Beep. Beep. There was so much pain. Xuan just wanted it to end. It should've ended. She'd already had the child after all. It was a boy, they'd told her it was a boy. She wanted to hold him, but everyone was moving around so damn fast…

"She's AB positive!" the doctor shouted, "Now get to it!"

Beep. Beep.

"Sir, I don't think we have enough any more. She's losing far too much. I think the hemorrhage is just too serious. "

Beep. Beep. She wanted Hoa. Hoa wasn't allowed in the delivery room though. They'd said something about a sterile environment. Beep. Beep. She wanted Klaus too, but Klaus was away, somewhere in the jungle with his brother taking care of Seung's group. He'd told her that there was no way he was taking that lying down after the explosion. Now he wasn't there. That bastard Seung was still managing to mess up her life…

"Have you tried everywhere?"

"Everywhere," the orderly said nervously.

Beep. Beep. There were a lot of things going on at the moment. It was difficult to focus on just one thing. One of the orderlies was near her, trying to do something or another. It was difficult to understand it, or anything that was going on around her. There was one thing she understood though. Even if she didn't want it to be true, she knew it was. Beep. Beep. She made a motion to the orderly closest to her and he moved forward. Xuan stumbled over her words for a minute.

"I want him to be named Klaus," she whispered.

The orderly nodded, looking at her sadly.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

.

.

.

Hoa rocked the small child in his cradle several days later. He had dark hair and pale skin, an interesting mix between his mother and his father. He was a small thing though, not quite capable of focusing his own eyes yet. It was odd to think of all that he had already done. All the things he'd done, and all the misery that could have been avoided if he hadn't been born. Hoa wiped her tears. No, she couldn't think like that. It was wrong and unfair to both Xuan and Klaus jr.

The door opened and she looked up sharply.

"Hell-o?" called Klaus as he came in, "Just killed an entire ring of smugglers here!"

He looked at Hoa who was staring at him in disbelief. She saw his eyes dart to the cradle. His mouth dropped open.

"His name's Klaus," she said quietly, now much more fluent in English.

"Dammit, I told her that I didn't want her to name him that," he sighed, regaining his composure relatively quickly, "Now I get to give it to her for naming him that and she gets to give it to me for not being there."

"Klaus-"

"Then we just sort of even out and equilibrium is restored to the universe. It's all sort of weird if you think about it."

"Klaus-"

"Sooner we start the sooner it's over though. Now where is she anyway?"

Hoa looked at him blandly.

"Funeral in two days."

Klaus looked at her as though he wasn't hearing her.

"What?"

"Women in our family," she said, "Either die in childbirth or live for a very long time. I've…I've outlived my daughter and granddaughter."

Her tears started to fall on the sleeping child's face. Little Klaus still didn't wake up. The child slept very soundly it appeared. Hoa wiped her tears out of her wrinkles with one hand before she turned back to the child's father. He was looking at her uncertainly, as though wondering if she was lying and it was all part of some sort of sick joke.

After a minute he said;

"She's dead then."

"Yes."

He gave a hard look at the two of them. Then he turned around slowly and went upstairs without saying a word.

.

.

.

"Come on dammit!"

Séance hit the Ouija board with his fist.

"Answer me!" he yelled again, "Don't you **dare** not talk to me!"

There was no answer. There hadn't been any answer since he'd started calling nearly six hours earlier. He knew how this worked. He'd been told by his dead friends. You get a choice. You can either hang on for awhile or you can 'move on' to your next 'existence'. Whatever the hell meant. He'd been to Heaven once and hadn't liked it much. He always kind of figured that it might have been better for other people though. Séance wasn't exactly heavenly material.

Xuan would've stayed though. He was sure about it. She would've taken the choice to stay, if only to chew him out for not being there for the birth of his child. He was sure of that. He knew that Xuan was angry that he hadn't been there. Now she was throwing a hissy fit and not talking to him. She was just being plain out pissy. That's what it was. That's all it was and she'd talk to him eventually.

The door opened hesitantly. Séance whipped around to see Pogo standing in the doorway.

"What do you want?!" he snapped, "Can't you see I'm busy here?"

Pogo stared at him sympathetically.

"Klaus…I know this must be hard for you…but…she's not coming back."

"PISS OFF!"

Séance turned his back on Pogo. Sighing Pogo closed the door. Séance glared at the Ouija board for a minute before it sank in. Pogo knew it, Hoa knew it, and deep down he knew it. Xuan had moved on. She'd gone and left. She'd left him. Angrily Séance shoved the Ouija board off the table and it clattered onto the floor.

Kicking the table legs he saw them break in front of him. Picking up a chair he smashed it. He was throwing a fit and destroying everything. It was a tantrum, childish in its nature. Too fucking bad. When the last stick of furniture had been ripped apart he stared at his room. It was a complete mess and he just didn't give a shit.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead he closed his eyes. When he opened them again he turned around. It was then that he noticed an envelope at his door. Pogo had probably left it there. Confused Séance picked it up and turned it over. It was an envelope marked 'Personal Affects.' He frowned before opening the envelope and sliding out its contents into his hand.

It was the blue flower necklace that he had given her. He stared at it.

"Xuan," he muttered.

Blankly he looked down at it. Picking up the necklace by the clasp he held it in front of his face. Séance turned it over a few times, just staring at it. He gritted his teeth. Clutching the necklace in his hand he kicked the remnants of a nearby table.

"IT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR!" he screamed.

Somehow that sentence said it all. She should've been with him. It wasn't that she couldn't leave him. That had been an option he was always painfully aware of. It was that he didn't want her to. He wanted her to stick around. Now she'd just left. For the first time in his adult life, he felt tears in his eyes.


	23. Chapter 23

July 18, 1962

The lights were off. This wasn't particularly odd, considering that Séance rarely ever turned on the lights. It was night though, which made it not just dark but absolutely pitch black. Most people would find sitting up in the dark creepy and odd. Séance knew that. (That was one of the reasons he started doing it after all.)

This night was different though. This time he genuinely couldn't even get a decent doze going. Séance didn't think that this was particularly surprising though. It had been a bad day. Once again that wasn't surprising. He knew he was horribly shallow, but perhaps not this shallow. The occasion had called for a whole different level of feeling other then what he was used to.

Xuan's funeral was that afternoon. He hadn't wanted to think about it then and he still didn't. He couldn't help it though. During his life Séance had been to two different funerals. Both of them had been for his 'family' members and both of them had been extremely awkward.

At Horror's funeral no one had wanted to talk to either Space or Hargreeves. (This was because everyone knew it was their fault.) When he'd gone to Hargreeves's funeral everyone was secretly relieved that he had died. (This was because everyone knew that he was a bastard.) So both of them had been awkward and a hassle to go to.

Xuan's funeral was different. People were actually upset when she died. Maybe most funerals were supposed to be that way. All of them were wearing black, even the kid. Hoa had insisted. Séance hadn't bothered changing for the funeral though. Everything he'd owned was black.

They'd viewed the body before setting it off and he'd held her necklace in his hands. Finally he'd snapped it around her corpse's neck. It looked better on her anyways.

Then they'd gone to the cemetery. She'd been buried in one of the only Christian church yards in Saigon. He'd seen others where they cremated people. (The idea of skin crackling off and the fat popping in the air was kind of funny.)

The sun had been shining that day, but the day before the funeral it had rained. In other words the ground at the cemetery had become very soft and very slippery. Séance had actually tripped a few times on the way to the damn place. The caretakers probably had no trouble digging a fresh grave for her.

The rest was kind of a blur with some priest or another talking. He couldn't remember much about the ceremony, just all this stuff about there being a time for everything. Séance did remember that he put flowers that looked like her necklace on her grave at the end though.

Downstairs he heard his son start to cry. (Man oh man it was weird to think of the kid as his.) Like whenever the phone rang he waited for someone else to go down and get it. He figured Hoa would. She was pretty eager to take care of her great-grandson. Honestly he wanted to be angry at the kid. At the same time he pictured Xuan lecturing him for that though. Besides, the way the kid looked at him sent him on one of the biggest guilt trips of his life.

The kid was still crying. Where was Hoa? Then again, she was a pretty heavy sleeper. Pogo was too. So it looked like he was 'it' this time. He sighed and got up. It wasn't like he was going to lose any sleep from it. For a minute he contemplated turning on a light before deciding against it.

Yawning he got up and walked down the stairs or perhaps stumbled down them. Just before he opened the door his son stopped crying, almost abruptly. Straining his ears Séance could've sworn that he heard music, or perhaps someone humming. Frowning he put his hand on the doorknob and flung the door open.

There was someone standing at the cradle, someone in a blue silk traditional dress with a long braid. He paused in the doorway and blinked. She turned around and smiled hesitantly.

"Hi," Xuan said.

For a minute he stared at her. Then he shrugged.

"Took you long enough."

She frowned.

"I think I came here pretty fast. I had to wait until you buried me after all," she replied.

"Hm."

(He actually hadn't known that one. Funny world.) Slowly Séance walked up so that he could stand right beside her. Even so he didn't look her in the eye. He could practically hear her trying to figure out what to say next as she pulled nervously on her braid a few times.

"Thanks," she said.

"For what?" he asked as he raised his eyebrow.

"This," she said as she fingered the blue flower necklace she was wearing, "You gave it back."

"Yeah," Séance said, "Well, it's yours isn't it?"

A slightly awkward silence ensued.

"Are you going to tell Hoa about me?" Xuan asked.

"Yeah," Séance said, "She'll just get pissed if I don't. She probably won't be able to see you though, I just can 'cause I'm special."

Once again there was a slightly awkward silence.

"You did let him keep the name Klaus, didn't you?" she asked.

"Duh," he said, "Hoa shamed me into it. Said that's what you wanted, and with you being dead and all it was kind of effective. I still think this kid is going to grow up with a massive inferiority complex with that name though. Or in the very least hate it."

She took a deep breath like she was preparing to say something. (Or what sounded like one. Hard to tell when the person's gone all ghosty and all.)

"Look," he cut her off, "I know what you want me to say. You want me to say something about how upset I was that you died. How broken up I was and now I'm sooooooooo happy that you're back. Well sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't say shit like that. I'm not that guy and you know it."

Xuan didn't say anything. He hesitated as he looked at her.

"I will say that I missed you like hell though."

He heard her chuckle weakly.

"Very poetic," she laughed.

"I know. Move over Robert Burns."

She cocked an eyebrow.

"….and that is?" Xuan asked.

"Some dead Scottish dude," shrugged Séance.

Laughter escaped from Xuan's lips and Séance smirked. Still laughing Xuan went to pick up their son.

"Whoa there," protested Séance, "Might not be the best idea. Kids get totally freaked out when their dead parents pick them up, 'cause they can't see 'em."

"Shut up. I haven't gotten to hold him and so help me I'm going to do it now," she said, ignoring his warning and wrapping her arms around him.

Séance braced himself for the kid's screams. (Stupid screechy noises.) He was surprised when they didn't come. Looking at the kid closely, he noticed that the kid was actually reaching for Xuan's face as if he wanted to be held tighter. She looked at him with undisguised triumph.

"Guess he inherited your talent."

"Let's hope he inherits my good looks and tact too," he said.

"Right," she snorted.

"Of course," he continued, "Now that you're already dead it means that you have to come and meet me if I get stuck in the future. No getting rid of me now."

"I wouldn't want to."

Cautiously, because he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do it, he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. (He didn't go through. That was a bit of luck) Quite the family they made, not the fifties type at all. After all, they had a dead mother, a psyco/psychic superhero father, and a kid who might very well have the same issues as his father. What could he say though? Vietnam is complicated.


End file.
